《World Game》 Prologue Sam shut down his computer while stretching his sore limbs. playing RPG''s,sleeping,eating and working..that''s sam''s typical routine. because of this schedule there isnt a woman in his life,or a busload of friends.even his family stopped interacting with him two years ago because of various reasons.so except a few collegues at work and people he played online with Sam is alone. After the computer shut down Sam prepared to go to his shift in the factory. After slipping in his sneakers he went over to the table for his bag when everything went dark. Sam couldnt see anything. "What''s going on??" Sam started to panic. He panicked cause he thought he became blind when he realised he couldnt hear or even feel the floor under his feet. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.Suddenly a red colored semi transparent window appeared in Front of his eyes. "Choose your class!" WHAT???!?class???!?like....in a Role Play Game????Sam got excited. He was a veteran in a variety of games,especially RPG''s. He had played a lot in his life...most people would say too much,but in Sam''s opinion this time wasnt wasted. Looking down the red window he saw the different classes He could choose. Even though Sam didnt know why everything went black and this mysterious red window appeared he simply decided to choose a class first because of his relationship to games. There were 5 different classes: 1.Archer (a class for light armor specialized in arrows,crossbows,javelins and other long range weapons) 2.Assasin (a light armored class specialized in daggers,knives and other short melee weapons) 3.Knight (a heavy or medium armored class that uses swords,spears,one handed axes as well as shields) 4.Mage (a Long ranged class equipped with no armor just robes and staffs) 5.Warrior (a melee class that uses medium or light armor,as well as two-handed weapons) The beginning "Your typical standard classes..no healer,maybe the mage is the healer??"Sam was saying to himself. "I played all these classes but I never really liked range attacks..the frontline is where the action is going on so mage and archer are out.That leaves assassin,warrior and knight..."Sam was pondering. After looking at the descriptions again sam made his final decision "I''m not the type of guy to murder from the dark so assassin is no good as well And a good Defense is a crucial point in melee fights afterall which leaves me with the knight." After making his decision Sam tried to tab the red window like he would with his phone.At the same time he thought ''why do i even need to change a class????i was in my apartment a moment ago:/ At this moment the window changed. "Hello there, I am your god and from now on this world will be a massive RPG!!!Why you ask?? I read a lot of the light novels in this world as well as played a massive amount of games so I am really interested in it.to make it more interesting for me as well as you I changed the whole concept of this world hahahahah. You can lvl up now ,as well as get skills or legendary items and all u need to get them is a bit of luck and willpower.....stop trying to look at your stats,you won''t find them Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.In this ''Game'' you can''t read through your stats it''s more like you can feel them yourselves. The stats are attack,defense,stamina,mana,speed and accuracy.Every lvl up will give u 1 stat point.Some quests or special events might give u stat points as well so look out for them! If you feel like your speed is not enough just think about it and the skill point will be added to your speed stat.You should feel the change in your body after distributing the points. Skills can be leveled as well simply through using them but don''t get me wrong you won''t find skills on the streets or inside some puny goblin,they are hard to find and much harder to master. This is a revolution because now it doesn''t matter if you put every point in attack if you don''t hit!!!u need to master your weapons as well.people with military or martial arts experience have the biggest advantage cause they should be able to use their weapons Finally the last and biggest advise...stay alive!!! There is no respawn,if you die you die and trust me there will be plenty of opportunities to because I spawned you some nice surprises hahahahahahaha. This text is long enough and I think I gave you the most important information.i might send new info when the game starts. I give everyone some weak beginner lvl weapons so they can defend themselves I am not ruthless after all Fight,Survive and maybe in the future you can live a comfortable life even in this new monster filled RPG world,Lets Have Fun!!!!!!'' Changes After reading this crazy message Sam stood dumbfounded. He reflexively tapped the screen and immediately his senses started to work again and he was back in his apartment. "Nothing seems different"Sam said to himself then he spotted something resembling a little wooden shield lying on the floor in front of him.He picked it up and grabbed the handle in the middle of it. The size was quite acceptable but it was to thin to even withstand two hits from a little handaxe. "Hmpf...better than nothing"Sam mumbled and startet to look for a weapon.Behind him on the floor he found a wooden club with a length of about 30cm. Before he could start to complain about this pre-historic equipment "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH....." A painful panic-stricken scream came through the window. Sam ran to the window with a clean view to the front of the 5 story apartment complex he was living in.His apartment was on the forth floor. He arrived at the window and his face turned pale white when he watched the situation down on the street.The cars were all standing on the streets there wasn''t a single one driving.The doors were open and the people were in the process of abandoning their cars and flee. However a woman of maybe 40 years was wrestling with someone in front of her car.It seems she ran into him when she wanted to flee and they fell to the ground. She was screaming frightful and struggled while the other person lay on top of her.Sam couldnt see what exactly was happening because they lay right in front of the apartments. The only view Sam had was the persons backview lying on the struggling woman.Suddenly the person jerked for a moment shortly afterwards the woman turnt quiet. "What is going on??"Sam whispered looking to the street the other people escaped to just a moment ago. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon."ahhh heeeelp" "Ohhh my god run run run!!" "Please someone help!!!" The people were running back in sam''s direction but it seems there were more this time.First was a group of about 20 people screaming and yelling for help.Shortly,about 5 meter behind them came a group of another 20 people but they somehow seemed weird.Sam couldn''t see details because of the distance but he immediately realized that the second group was walking strangely and in a slow pace. 20 Meter in front of his apartment building the group split up. 15 people ran into a little alley opposite of Sam and away from his position.5 people remained on the street panting heavily. "Why did they leave 5 people?"Sam pondered. He tried to focus more on the little group. "These people are all seniors!!"Sam exclaimed"they left them because they are too slow...it seems they are a burden to the big group" At that moment there was a person approaching the little group of seniors from the direction of Sam''s apartment. "Isn''t that..."Sam looked straight down and saw the body of the previous woman laying in a pool of blood with a big hole in her throat. Sam turned around and sprinted into the kitchen to throw up into the sink.He had never seen something like this in his whole life. ''What is going on here???''Sam thought. He wanted to wash the sink after he emptied his stomach but he realized there is no running water.He went to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and noticed there is no electricity as well. "No water and no electricity"Sam frowned. Sam''s head snapped up after hearing low shouts from outside.he slowly walked to the window only to witness the group of 5 people to get slammed to the ground and get bitten by the other "things".Sam couldn''t see the seniors anymore but he could hear wet sounds and something that resembled chewing. Sam was frozen,He couldn''t move.He couldn''t say anything and he couldn''t look away either. When Sam startet to hear ripping sounds and watched at somethings resembling organs flying out of the group he couldn''t shoulder this sight anymore and lost consciousness falling backwards on the floor of his apartment. Level up! Sam woke up at night. Because of the summer season it was quite warm even at night but the smell tonight was different. It stank of slowly rotting flesh and blood in the front of his appartment. Sam thought back to the scene from before when the 5 people got slaughtered and wanted to throw up again. He was scared out of his mind. "This is hell!I want to quit this goddamn game!!"Sam panicked. But no one answered him. He went silent and sat down in a corner of his apartment hugging his knees. Sam is quite tall with 1,90meter and also a bit chubby so seeing someone with his stature sitting in this kind of posture would be quite funny but Sam in this situation wasn''t felling like this at all. He was losing his mind and heart at this moment. ''That must be zombies...god lets us fight zombies mit wooden clubs and bows....I am alone in here I don''t have a group and power is off as well..with no water I will die. I can go out there and scavenge but these zombies can kill me..or worse they make me turn into one of them"Sam lost all hope. He had about one and a half bottles of water left and most of his food was rotting in the non functional fridge. He had to go out but he lost his courage after the massacre before so he laid down and fell into a nightmare filled sleep. Sam woke up to a banging noise.It was bright again outside. Sam stood up stretching his body and turning around to look outside the window.There was no movement on the streets. Two bloodstains remained on the streets after the attacks on the woman and the senior group yesterday but no corpses remained.There weren''t even bones. "Did these people turn into zombies as well???"Sam spoke to himself. He realized the banging didn''t stop since he woke up so Sam went to his apartment door and tried to listen to the sounds coming from outside his apartment door. "Help someone.." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."Bob,kick this freak out of the door" Sam''s neighbors Mr. And Mrs. Cornwell were fighting an intruder at their apartment door. Sam opened his door lightly so he could look out on the corridor only to see the woman that got attacked yesterday pushing and clawing the door of his neighbors. ''So she really turned''Sam was frightened.He saw the woman with a fist sized hole in her throat and blood drenched chlothing slamming against the door and giving of coarse noises. ''The cornwells were nice to me since I moved here 2 years ago...I have to help them.they are both about 50 years old they can''t defend themselves.'' Sam thought. He forgot his fear and mustered all his courage to open the door and yell "HEY COME HERE" The zombie stopped his actions and turned into Sam''s direction. It startet wobbling over to his apartment.Sam kept waving and yelling so the zombie knew where he was. ''It seems I distracted it enough''Sam thought and wanted to close his door again but right at this moment bob cornwell and his wife came out of their flat sneaking in Sam''s direction. ''What are they doing?why aren''t they closing their door and hiding again?''he looked at bob. Bob was staring at Sam as well with a complex expression. Sam was confused because of the behavior of his neighbors when bob suddenly sprinted behind the zombie and pushed it into Sam''s apartment. "Sorry Sam..everyone for himself and sadly we need to pass your flat to get to the staircase.."Bob whispered while passing Sam''s apartment. Sam couldn''t hear what he said because of the bloody woman zombie on top of him but he saw the couple running down the corridor in the direction of the staircase. ''They used me as scapegoat...and I wanted to help...I''m dying..this fucking zombie will kill me!!!''Sam realized as his thoughts turned dark.''it has not even been two days but they already betrayed and sacrificed me...''while thinking about this Sam was pushing the shoulders of the zombie on top so it couldn''t bite him,but he lost his power at an alarming rate. ''If this continues I''m gonna die...what can I do..I need help''Sam panicked.When looking around for something that could solve his problem his eyes fell on the wooden beginner club he got from god.Sam bent his left leg and used his knee to press against the zombies chest to hold some distance.at the same time he grabbed the wooden club next to him and smashed it on the zombies head. Nothing happened..he somehow grabbed the chin of the zombie so it wouldn''t move to much and smashed the club again in its head.Sam could hear a bone chilling sound from the zombies head but it was still struggling and trying to bite him so Sam continued bashing his club on the zombies head. After another few times with a loud crack the zombie stopped moving and lay motionless on top of Sam. He used his arms and legs to get the corpse off of him and startet breathing heavily. Then... ''Level up!'' stats ''Congratulations Sam Williams for rising to Level 1!!!You can distribute one stat point now'' ''You are the 238.478th person to archive a Level up'' Two small red screens appeared in front of Sam. He totally forgot the scene that happened moments ago and thought about his stat point. In front of game-like events like a level up and stat point distribution his worry and fear diappeared for now and was replaced with joy and excitement. Sam still lay on the floor and thought to himself ''Right now was way too close.If i hadn''t found the club I would be dead right now....it''s fucking bob''s fault in the first place.how could he do such a thing???'' He thought about the situation when the zombie was pushed through the door and decided spontaneously that his defense is way too weak. ''I need a better defense...like this i won''t be pushed like this the next time!'' Another little screen appeared afterwards ''Stat point allocated'' He tapped the screen and it,alongside the earlier two screens diappeared. Sam thought of the second message just now and exclaimed "already over 200.000 people leveled up...most likely there are some people who are already level 2 or even 3..." "I dont know how much a stat point change my chances of survival..I can''t feel a change right now.I need a plan,what should I do?...I could go outside to look for other people...no...first of all I will look inside the other apartments and scavenge everything I need." After making his plan he stood up and gulped down half a bottle of water.That left him with only one bottle.Sam looked at the zombie on the ground and the pool of blood bones and brain.He started to feel nauseous again so he turned around and went to the door.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. After the zombie had been pushed in the door closed itself because of the strong recoil so Sam slowly opened the door.He held his breath and listened for any sound coming from the corridor but he heard nothing out of the ordinary. He looked to the right where the staircase and elevators were located then he looked left where another four apartments including the one of the cornwell couple were located. After waiting for a few more minutes Sam couldn''t hear anything so he closed his apartments door behind him and made his way to the left. After fleeing their apartment bob or his wife left the door wide open so Sam sneaked inside. The size and structure was the same as his own.A living room with a small kitchen,a bedroom and a bath.What startled Sam were two bows and six arrows placed on the couch. Sam closed the door and searched every room quickly afterwards. "There are no zombies in here"Sam''s mind and body relaxed. He walked over to the couch and picked up one of the bows. "AH..these must be their starting weapons.Seems like they simply clicked a random class in a hurry...actually I think most of the people did take this first red screen as a joke and simply tapped randomly to get back to reality. But doesn''t that mean I can use these weapons.I mean my class is knight but maybe there are some ways for ranged attacks." Sam took an arrow from the couch but he couldn''t fire it.Somehow his hands didn''t do what he wanted them to do.He isn''t an expert with bows but it isn''t impossible for him to fire an arrow with such a crude bow. "I can''t do it!...that..must be why we had to choose classes.so for me that means one handed weapons and any sort of shields. By the way!are there some sorts of stats for weapons??"He looked up and down the bow then concentrated on the bowstring. (Beginner Bow->Attack +1) ''So I need to concentrate on the weapon to see its name and stats'' He took an arrow and focused on its tip. (Beginner Arrow->Attack +1) After checking their stats Sam decided to search this apartment and take the useful things back to his own home. On his way back he listened at the other apartment doors.Two apartments seemed to be empty but the last one had noises of someone or something moving so Sam went back first to drop the loot at his home. After putting everything aside he inspected his own weapons (Beginner Club->Attack +1) (Beginner Shield->Defense +1) "That''s what I expected...but how can I get better equipment?" Sam asked himself."For now I should clear this floor.I need to look into the other apartments." 4th floor Sam took his shield and club after resting for another 15 minutes. He had planned everything. First he will clear the two apartments that seemed empty after that he will check the last one. After listening at the door he was sure it was clear on the corridor so he slipped out and went to the apartment opposite the Cornwell''s. The door was unlocked. Sam silently opened the door and scanned the inside.The coatrack in behind the door had been flipped and a bunch of bags and shoes were scattered on the floor. After seeing that the rest of the apartment is clean and tidy Sam concluded that the owner must have left this place in a hurry. '' I remember the guy who lives here has family on the countryside. He must have left immediately after all of this started.'' Sam checked the apartment while thinking about this. Lastly he went to the kitchen to look for still eatable food and water. "Wow..quite the spoils!! 4 bottles of water as well as half a whitebread and honey. The fridge is nearly empty so I am quite lucky that i have found this in the cabinet." By the way Sam also found a staff which must belong to the man living here. "Another one who randomly chose a class and left his weapon" Sam sighed and picked up the staff. "It is heavy!! Too heavy for me to even swing it properly! That must be the class restrictions." Sam said and left the staff. It was too heavy so even when Sam leaves this place he wouldn''t bring it. After bringing the spoils back to his living room he went for the next apartment only to find the door locked. He knocked lighty and said quietly " Hello is there someone in there? I am Sam Williams from apartment 16." No reply. Total silence. ''There is no one in there and the door is locked anyways so it''s meaningless to stay here'' Sam decided and went for the last apartment on this floor. The door wasn''t locked but the chewing noises coming from the room were alarming and disgusting so Sam crouched down and held his breath. ''Mr. and Mrs. Jones live here. They are at least 50 years old so they should have kept low profile.. but these noises...'' Sam speculated. He hesitated to open the door.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ''I need to clear this room and get their food and water.'' He steeled himself and slowly millimeter for millimeter opened the door. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were still inside their apartment. Both of them were eating at the moment but instead of steak or pizza Mr. Jones was chewing on his wife''s arm while she was biting his shoulder. "Ah.." Sam was shocked and leaked a small sound by mistake. Mr. and Mrs. Jones looked in the direction of the sound. Sam''s eyes met their hollow grey zombie eyes. The two zombies stood up and started to walk towards Sam unsteadily. This view was horrifying not only because there were two zombies walking towards him but also because Mrs. Jones left arm was only hanging to a tiny thread of flesh and skin. Mr. Jones had nearly eaten through her whole arm and even cracked her bones. Sam lost focus for a few moments. When he came back to his senses Mr. Jones was just one meter away from him stretching his arms in Sam''s direction. Sam woke up and with a swift motion readied his wooden shield to defend against the zombies when Mrs. Jones tripped on one of the two beginner staffs that lay on the ground and pushed her husband in Sam''s direction. ''Just like the last time! Let''s see how the shield and stat point in defense help me to survive!!'' Sam pressed his foot on the ground hiding behind his shield. *Bam The impact came and Sam had to retreat for one step but he didn''t fall. Now he understood what the message meant with the feeling of someone''s improved stats. Sam held his ground against the zombie took out his club and tried to counterattack. The first two attacks were off by quite a bit so Sam tried to concentrate. He saw Mrs. Robinson climbing up from the ground about 3 meters away. ''I need to hurry or the two of them will overwhelm me. Concentrate! You need to concentrate!'' Sam reminded himself. He tried to hit but missed again while pushing his shoulder against the shield to keep some distance. Taking a big breath Sam held the zombie in place with his shield and hit the zombies head. The disgusting sound of a skull shattering was like music in Sam''s ears at this moment. Mr. Jones stopped moving and Sam gave him a strong push with his shield. He pushed him against his wife and both of them ended on each other. The corpse of her husband pressed Mrs. Robinson down. Sam took this chance to walk in front of her. He lifted his club and smashed the zombies head in. The sight of her carved in face mixed with the gruesome appearance of her arm made Sam turn around quickly. He started to search the rooms after resting on the couch for a couple of minutes. "Phew that was dangerous. Why are they even zombies? I thought all of us humans would be ''player'' unless we are bitten." Sam looked at the couple on the ground again. " maybe they got a heart attack and turned after dying. Or they got bitten by the same zombie that attacked the Cornwell''s and me.... In the end I don''t have enough information. Where do I get equipment and weapons or skills and quests? Too many questions and no one to ask...maybe i should look for other people to exchange information. I should think about a group as well. I am not confident i can fight and beat 2 zombies in an unexpected situation so backup will be helpful!" When Sam was done talking to himself he was already back in his apartment. He locked the door and laid down on the couch. He kept pondering about numerous questions until he finally fell asleep. Clearing the 5th floor Sam slept until early morning the next day. He stood up took his clothes off and went in the shower. '' No running water...so it wasn''t a nightmare.'' Sam thought and took out a clean set of clothes from his drawer. "So our world really changed. I still can''t believe that life is a game from now on. I need to get stronger and find some trustworthy companions. Most likely it will be easier to find food and water than one or two people I can trust. In times like these everyone thinks of themselves first. 99% of the people will sacrifice others for their own lives." Sam concluded after thinking about the first day and his encounter with the Cornwell''s. " Right now I''m alone so I need to become stronger! I have to level up and get my hands on some equipment and skills!" Sam said with resolution. He sat down and planned his next steps while eating some hard white bread with honey. " I have to search and clear this whole building and while I''m at it I will kill every zombie in here. Hopefully I can level up one or two times and find some useful items." Sam took his shield and club then walked on the corridor. He decided to check the fifth floor first. He slowly opened the door to the staircase. It was silent. ''Seems safe. I should head upstairs.'' Sam climbed up. He opened the door to the fifth floor crouched and looked inside the corridor. One zombie stood in the hallway and looked at Sam after hearing the door opening. Sam took two steps forward and held his shield in a defensive position in front of his body. After the zombie encounters in the last days Sam was quite calm when facing a single zombie in an open space like this hallway. The corpse of a slim built woman stumbled towards him. When she in reach Sam took the initiative to swing his club at the zombies head. With a cracking sound the zombies skull shattered and it fell to the ground. After this fight Sam observed the corridor. It was just a few stairs up from his apartment but Sam had never been on the fifth floor before. He saw three doors in the straight corridor. ''These apartments must be quite a lot bigger than the others in this building.'' Sam thought and went over to the first door. He listened at the door and heard some faint noises. He tried to open the door. It was unlocked so he looked inside. The spacious living room was empty but he could hear sounds from the room on the left. '' I need to clear the room on the left first. Maybe it''s a survivor?'' Sam thought and sneaked to the left. He peeked inside the room. His hope of finding someone alive was shattered when he saw the bloody scene in the room. Inside stood a bed and a zombie stood next to it. The head end of the bed was covered in dry dark red blood. The zombie faced the other direction so Sam decided to kill it as fast as possible from behind. He started to run as quietly as he could. When the distance was about two meter the zombie turned around but Sam had already lightly jumped and was smashing his club from overhead. With a perfect hit and the sound of bones shattering the zombie sank down. ''Level up!'' ''Congratulations Sam Williams for rising to Level 2!!! You can distribute one stat point now'' ''For safety measures I put another stat point into defense.'' ''Stat point allocated'' "Yes! With this my combat abilities rise again." Sam said happily but afterwards he didn''t forget to check the remaining rooms in this apartment. After he was sure it was safe Sam returned to the bedroom. He hat a theory now he could gather some new hints.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He looked at the corpse on the ground. ''When he was still living this guy must have been around 20 something years old. I have to check for bitemarks." Sam wanted to know if the guy was bitten because he could clearly tell that he must have killed himself. He had a big bloody cut across his throat and the bloody knife lay on the bed. That''s why half of the bed was covered in blood. " I cannot find any bitemarks. So that means every human turns into a zombie after he dies. At this moment it doesn''t matter if bitten or not." that''s what Sam needed the most apart from skills and weapons. Information! He had to gather as much as he could. About this new world, items, skills, quests and monsters. Sam left the bedroom and searched the rest of the rooms. He found a bottle of water and a can of pineapples so he decided to take a break before continuing. After an hour Sam left for the next apartment. He noticed sounds but wasn''t as afraid as before. He opened the door and saw two zombies with their backs in his direction. One of them was sitting on the ground while the other was standing behind him gnawing on his shoulder. The one standing turned around first and walked in Sam''s direction. Sam let the zombie continue until he was one meter away and smashed his head before he could even touch Sam''s shield. ''One left'' Sam was relatively calm...until the other zombie stood up. This one was about two meter tall and muscular like a bodybuilder but Sam had his eyes on the zombies hands. He was wearing gloves! Not some boxing or martial arts gloves. The ones the zombie was wearing were made of dark brown leather with small metal plates at the back of the hands and at the fingers. ''This must be some equipment! Maybe medium armor? Doesn''t matter I need to kill this zombie anyways. But let me check these gloves stats first.'' Sam decided and focused on the gloves. (Medium Armor Gloves ->Defense +2) (Male Zombie Level 3) !!! ''So I can get some information from the monsters too when I focus on them!'' Sam smiled. He got another good piece of information. The bodybuilder zombie walked in Sam''s direction. '' He seems slow but it will be difficult for me to get a clean hit. I have to get behind him and end this before he turns around.'' Sam put his shield to the side. He needed to be as quick as possible for his plan. He waited for the zombie a moment before they collided Sam awkwardly rolled on the ground to evade the attack. Sam stood up as quick as possible and clenched his club as hard as he could swinging it at the back of his opponents head. Bam! Sam felt a huge impact in his arm but it wasn''t enough to kill the level 3 zombie. In the next moment Sam swung his club again while the zombie turned around swinging its massive arm. The impacts happened at the same time and the sound of bones breaking filled the room but Sam didn''t know if it were his or the zombies bones. The zombies arm had hit Sam right in the shoulder and flung him three meter away through the flat screen TV. He had problems breathing and felt himself lose consciousness. ''Am I dying?'' Sam pondered In the last second before he lost consciousness he caught a glimpse of a red window. He didn''t know how long he had slept but when Sam woke up it was still daylight outside. He saw the red screen but it wasn''t a ''level up'' notice it was something else. ''Congratulations Sam Williams! For defeating an equipped monster one level higher than yourself you are awarded with two stat points.'' ''Nice! Ok, I put one point into stamina and one into attack. The monsters are going to get stronger with us so I shouldn''t focus too much on defense.'' ''Stat points allocated'' Sam slowly stood up. His right shoulder hurt quite much after the hit from the zombie but probably because of his defense stats it was not too serious. He walked at the zombies side to look at the gloves. There were blood and other fluids, which Sam couldn''t identify on the gloves. Sam was reluctant to wear these gloves but he may get the chance to clean them so he took them off the zombies hands. After the gloves completely left the hands of the zombie Sam looked at them again and they were clean. They actually looked like a brand new pair of gloves. "Wow this system is awesome. I don''t have to worry about infections when picking up dropped equipment." Sam concluded and wore his new pair of leather gloves. " I have about one hour left until the sun sets, let''s check the last apartment and return home" Sam spoke to himself. The last apartment was locked and no one responded to Sam''s shouts. He took his spoils and headed in the staircases direction. After a few steps Sam froze. He thought about something and headed back in the first apartment. He checked the bedroom with the corpse again. He found the knife on the bed. It looked plain,with a wooden handle and a crude made blade. "That''s not something someone would own in today''s time." Sam tried to lift the knife but it felt like it weigh 30kg and he could just barely lift it. (Beginner Knife -> Attack +1) "Ok,just as i thought." Sam stood up and went in the second apartment. He searched the corpses and near them. He couldn''t find anything so he checked all of the rooms again. "I found no weapons,that means...either they started somewhere else and left their weapons or...they might be spawned from god? That would mean there are a lot less ''player'' than I expected." Sam pondered. He casually looked out the window. " It''s getting dark, I should head back down." Sam took his spoils from the corridor floor and returned back to his own apartment. On the way back he thought about the day. '' New equipment and stat points as well as a few things to eat are quite the spoils. Also the fifth floor is clean now as well. I should check the other floors tomorrow, after that I will surely level up again.'' Its Jack Sam woke up the next morning. He had slept at least seven hours, so he felt quite energized. It had been 3 days since the ''game'' started, when Sam looked out the window he couldn''t help but sigh. "Only 3 days passed by, but I can''t see a single living person in the streets. In fact only undead remain." Besides the abandoned cars only occasional zombies roamed the streets. Sam saw smoke rising from various places in the city. His hometown had about 200.000 citizens,however right now it looked just like a ghosttown. "Today''s plan is to clear the rest of this building. I need to be careful so I don''t get overwhelmed, in my opinion the possibility is higher to meet zombies the lower I get." Sam packed everything he needed and picked up his shield and club. "I need a new weapon ASAP, this club has cracks all over the place,most likely it will break within the next few hits," Sam said worriedly. He looked outside the window again,however this time there was a group of people running in his direction. He spotted six people,two girls and four guys. Sam observed them, until they reached 20 meter away from his building. ''It''s Jack!'' Sam recognized one person. A young guy about 1,80 meter tall with a normal statue and short cut hair. Jack was 19 years old this year and worked together with Sam. At this moment, Jack seemed worried. The rest of the group looked unwell too. One of the girls was blonde the other had black hair and the facial features of a chinese woman. One of the guys was Chinese too. The tallest of the group was about the same height as sam but he had long hair and a scar through his face,from top left to bottom right. He had the overall appearance of a delinquent. The remaining two guys were small and thin, together with their dirty appearances they looked like beggars. ''They are traveling quite fast'' Sam thought, so he waved out the window and shouted: "Hey Jack, it''s me Sam from the factory!" Jack looked up and immediately recognized him. His lips curled into a smile. "Hey dude,its good to see you! We are getting pursued by a big group of zombies, they should be here in a few minutes. Can we take shelter in this building? These people are friends I met the day this ''game'' started." Jack pointed to the group behind him. "I cleared the top two floors but I''m not sure how the situation is looking below me. You should clear from the bottom upwards while I clear the third floor, let''s meet up there afterwards." Sam declared and already left his flat.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. He walked down to the third floor. The layout was the same as on the fourth, so Sam had to clear five apartments and the corridor. Two zombies lurked near the door to the stairwell so they became Sam''s first victims of the day. The zombie of a small woman got killed with one of his swings. Sam pushed the outstretched hands of the second zombie away with his shield and followed up with a kick to its chest. Their distance widened, so Sam took the opportunity to charge and smash the head of the second zombie. Afterwards he went to the first flat on the left. He disposed of the zombie wandering inside and left the apartment again. ''I can check for food later. I need to clear this floor and help jack and his friends.'' Sam thought and went to the flat opposite. Inside two zombies were eating each other. The stood up immediately after seeing Sam and attacked him. ''It seems like they eat each other if they can''t find fresh meat,'' Sam concluded and smashed the head of the first zombie. *CRACK* His club broke after killing the first zombie, but the second one gave him no time and caught his arm right away. He brought his head near Sam''s arm and opened his bloody mouth. Sam panicked but found the time to push his shield in the zombies face. It lost its balance and fell down. Sam took his chance. He pushed the zombies chest to the ground with his foot and placed his shield in between the zombies upper and lower jaw. He pushed it down with all his power and after a few seconds he split the skull of the zombie in a gruesome way. ''Level up!'' ''Congratulations Sam Williams for rising to Level 3!!! You can distribute one stat point now'' ''Let''s put it in defense again. This way I will feel a bit more confident!'' ''Stat point allocated'' "If I don''t find a new weapon I am done for." Sam said and checked the surroundings. His luck wasn''t bad as he found a beginner club on the floor. "With this new club I can kill a few more zombies" Sam happily explained and left the apartment after checking the remaining rooms. The next two flats were locked with no reaction to his shouts, so Sam checked the last apartment. One zombie stood in the living room, but there were more sounds coming from the bedroom. Sam killed the already alarmed zombie with a swift swing of his club. ''I am really getting better at swinging that thing,'' Sam thought and made his was to the bedroom. He wanted to look inside first but the door got pushed from inside after he turned the knob and two zombies got out. They pushed him for two meter, afterwards Sam retreated for another two meter to check the situation. (Male zombie Level 3 [equipped] ) (Female zombie Level 2) ''So this time i can see that the zombie has some sort of equipment.'' Sam checked the male zombie from head to toe. He stopped at his feet. ''He wears leather boots. Most likely a light armor, but maybe Jack can wear them. Let''s get these boots!'' Sam decided charged. He disposed of the female zombie in a swift and trained manner. The male zombie took him a bit longer but eventually after two hits to the head it fell. ''Congratulations Sam Williams! For defeating an equipped monster the same level as yourself you are awarded with one stat point.'' "Nice! I will upgrade my attack this time. Until I find a group I trust, there is no choice but to level each of my stats, except for mana." ''Stat point allocated'' "What''s this equipment?" Sam focused on the boots. (Beginner Light Armor Boots-> defense +1) He tried to wear them despite him being the knight class. "They won''t fit! I cannot even squeeze the tip of my foot inside! Alright, that must be the restrictions. Let''s keep them." Sam put the boots in his backpack and went to the stairwell to descend. First Skill! When Sam reached the door to the second floor he could hear cursing from inside. He quickly entered the second floor corridor. The yelling came from the last room, so Sam sprinted to the entrance door. Looking inside he was shocked. The corpses, or what was left, of the two beggars lay in front of the door. Beside them sat the two girls, looking at Sam with empty eyes. The most shocking thing was the zombie standing in the middle of the living room. It was like the bodybuilder zombie of the fifth floor, but it''s head wasn''t of a human. It had a wolf''s head,that was growling at Jack and his friends. It''s maw was blood soaked from skewering the beggars earlier and now it charged again. There were only three people remaining,that fought the wolf type zombie. Jack stood in the rear with a bow in his hands but he had no arrows remaining. The delinquent held a sledgehammer in both hands breathing heavily while the chinese youth held a knife. He held it with the blade downwards in a low stance. ''This guy must have some martial arts experience.'' Sam thought, then he watched the zombie again. (Wolf-type Zombie Level 5 - Sub Boss) '' A boss monster!'' Sam thought in excitement but then the zombie charged. "Be careful, it''s much faster compared to the normal zombies. It''s a sub boss after all! Sam we need your help, it already killed the Samson brothers." Jack spoke when he saw that Sam had arrived. At this moment the wolf zombie arrived in front of the delinquent. Sam saw him swinging his hammer and trying to hit the hip area of the zombie but he missed and lost his balance in the process. The zombie took this chance and grabbed the delinquents arm to bite it off. "Please save me!! I will to anything you want!" The delinquent begged. *Crack* "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" The zombie had broken his arm right at the elbow. The delinquent punched with his other hand in panic and pain to free himself but the zombie quickly opened his maw and bit off the hand of his other arm. The delinquent stopped resisting and lost consciousness because of the pain. Meanwhile a fountain of blood was gushing out his arm painting the wolf zombie red. The two girls screamed in fear while Jack and the chinese guy retreated a few steps. They lost all will to fight witnessing this cruel scene. Sam wasn''t unaffected as well, but not as much as the rest. He was racking his brain for a way to kill the sub boss. "Jack, run upstairs, I placed some arrows next to the couch in apartment 16 on the fourth floor. Grab them and come back." Sam spoke. Jack left immediately, while Sam gathered his courage, readied the shield and stepped forward. He was unaware that a minute after Jack left the chinese guy retreated to the door, took the two girls and left. Sam remained alone standing in front of the wolf zombie. The sub boss wasted no time and attacked Sam. It tried to grab his head but Sam deflected it''s arm with his shield and counterattacked with a swing of his club. He made contact with the zombies hand breaking it. Sadly the zombie seemed to feel no pain and continued the pursuit. This time it went for Sam''s arm but he had already anticipated that and retreated to steps. ''I have to hit the head,otherwise it will get me sooner or later.'' Sam thought and charged the zombie. A second before he reached his enemy, Sam lowered his posture and evaded him with a roll. Resuming his stance behind the zombie, Sam readied his club und swiped out toward it''s head. This strategy had worked against the bodybuilder zombie really well. In the next moment Sam knew he had miscalculated. The sub boss was a lot faster in comparison to normal zombies and reacted in time. It had turned around when Sam rolled past it and caught the club in it''s left hand. With the right hand it swiped out at Sam''s head trying to behead him. Sam used his shield to defend. *Bam* The impact was enormous. Sam was flung through the room hitting the bathroom door while still holding his shield. The wood had already cracked making the shield look fragile. Sam sat on the ground,his back against the bathroom door and panted heavily. His shield arm hurt like hell. ''So that''s the limit of what I can do alone. The other guys left as well and Jack isn''t returning too.'' Sam thought depressed. The wolf zombie had already made his way in Sam''s direction. A meter away from him Sam could hear a low sound. Unaware to him, Jack had arrived and stood in the door with his bow readied. Taking an arrow from his belt he was left with four arrows. He had shot the zombies back, distracting it and pulling the aggro to himself. Sam mustered all his remaining strengh to stand up and help Jack but he simply felt too weak and could only watch how the zombie walked in Jack''s direction growling with hostility. Jack continued to fire his arrows restlessly. Two of them missed the head by millimeters while the other three hit the left shoulder and chest. "Run away!!" Sam screamed but it was too late. Jack received a slap and smashed through the dining table losing consciousness instantly. The zombie crouched in front of Jack licking its bloody fangs. ''No! Not the first trustful person I met! I have to save him.. I HAVE to!!!!'' Sam steeled his resolve and dragged his body to stand up. He lifted his shield and threw it with everything he got. *Bam* the zombie got hit square in the face before he could bite off Jack''s throat. *shatter* the shield got destroyed by the impact and landed all over the place but Sam hadn''t remained motionless and started his attack immediately after throwing his shield. He tackled the zombie to the ground straddling it and repeatedly smashing it''s head with the club. He got scratched on his face and arms but never stopped until the zombie ceased movement and died. ''Congratulations Sam Williams! You are the first person to defeat a sub boss, therefore you are rewarded with five stat points.'' ''Because of your repeated and experienced fights with shields you are rewarded with the new skill (Shield throw)''If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Jacks story ''Because of your repeated and experienced fights with shields you are rewarded with the new skill (Shield throw)'' Sam fell on the floor next to the zombie corpse. He was panting heavily holding his injured arm. "That was close, let me distribute my stat points first, after that I will check on Jack''s condition. His injuries don''t look too serious."Sam said. "Let me put two points in health and another one in defense this time" ''Stat points allocated'' The pain in his arm subsided quite a bit after putting two points in health. "It seems that the health stat is responsible for the pain someone feels. Injuries won''t hurt as much or hinder you while fighting. Let me check on Jack before looking at the new skill." Sam concluded and stood up. Jack didn''t look well. The right side of his face was swollen and his right eye had turned blue. "At least he wasn''t bitten.Hey, hey Jack, come on man wake up!" Sam shook him strongly. Jack opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around in panic. His eyes got wide when he saw the wolf zombies corpse. "Sam, you...you killed it?alone? How did you do that?" Jack asked. "I got lucky, furthermore you helped out as well and saved my life." Sam answered while smiling. "It''s good to see a familiar face. How did you survive the last days and under what circumstances did you meet your comrades?" Sam asked. Jack was still sitting on the floor. He looked at Sam and after more than five minutes started telling "The first day everything changed was the worst of all. I had the early shift this day when the announcement happened. I chose my class but when I returned about five colleagues had already turned into zombies and started attacking the rest of us. Most of the people dropped their weapons and started running away even though I held on to my weapons. After seeing the zombies I was nearly scared to death, I never thought about fighting and hid at the first occasion....I heard them dying. Many of the workers were caught running away and got bitten. Some fell down dying horrible deaths. I heard their screams filled with agony while the zombies slowly devoured them. I will never forget this day and their shrieking and pleading for death." Jack was pale white and his voice was full of sorrow. "I stayed in my hiding spot until the next day. The zombies left the factory until there was only one left and because of him being quite far away I decided to kill it! I missed my first three shots so I hid again and retrieved my arrows after the zombie stopped searching for me. After another two misses I hit it right in the left eye. It died and I leveled up to Level 1. Afterwards I left the factory and ran into the group of Jonas and the others." Jack narrated and looked at the dead delinquent on the floor. Jonas, the delinquent, had been the leader of their team. The Samson brothers had been two beggars working for him before Day 0. Jack continued "The chinese guy is called Han. The black haired girl is his younger sister Sun and the blonde girl is called Nina. Han is an excellent fighter, he had already been Level 3 after two days, he must be just a bit away from Level 4. His sister and Nina are afraid of fighting, I think they only killed one zombie each, so they are both Level 1."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Sam listened, meanwhile walking to the corpses of the Samson brothers. He searched and found a light damaged shield under one of their bodies. ''At least I have a shield again...even though a steel shield would be much better.'' Sam thought and went back to Jack. "Let''s Head up into my apartment first, we can continue talking there. We should search for loot and.." Sam stopped, seeing the corpse of the delinquent slowly standing up. He had died because of losing to much blood but that wasn''t relevant when he zombiefied. Sam took this chance to activate his new skill for the first time. He threw his shield in a straight line and hit the zombie right on the nose. With a sickening crunch it''s nose got shattered and the zombie staggered back for three steps. Sam had already started after throwing his shield and was in reach for his club, when the zombie regained it''s posture.With a quick overhead slash Sam had killed the delinquent a second time. ''Level up!'' ''Congratulations Sam Williams for rising to Level 4!!! You can distribute one stat point now'' ''Now that I met Jack I can focus more on health and defense. I think health is more important right now!'' ''Stat point allocated'' After another point in health the pain in Sam''s arm completely vanished. Sam turned to look for Jack, who was still sitting on the ground looking at Sam dumbfounded. "H..How could you kill him so easily?" Jack asked. "Well I got my first skill when I killed the wolf zombie, or to be more precise, I got it from repeatedly using my shield in combat! Maybe that is the way to get one or even more skills!!" Sam grinned from ear to ear. "What exactly is your skill?" Jack asked him. ''How do I look at my skills?...Skills...Skill tree...Skill menu!'' Sam thought and a red window appeared in his view. The only skill was: (Shield Throw Level 1 - Throw your shield to attack enemies or defend your allies in the distance [ 0,05% mastered]) When Sam focused on a little question mark besides the skill another screen appeared (Leveling up Shield Throw will increase the distance it can be thrown and times it can be used. Level 1 Distance: 5 meter Cooldown: 1 hour ) ''So that''s how it is!'' Sam got a lot of information this time. "I can throw my shield to attack or defend, but the cooldown is one hour, so I will save it for emergencies." Sam responded after he had checked his skill menu. "I have some more questions for you as well, but let us go upstairs where the floors are cleared." Sam proposed. They searched the whole apartment and went back upstairs afterwards. Both of them were worn down, physically and mentally, so they decided to search the other floors on the next day. They arrived at Sam''s apartment. "My home is your home! We are already brothers in arms, you saved my life and I saved yours. I trust you and that is something I don''t do easily, especially at times like this." Sam said and gestured Jack to sit on the couch. They started talking again after eating some scavenged food. "So what is your current Level and why did you pick archer?" "I reached Level 3 at the first floor. I chose archer cause I liked shooting arrows when I was younger. I always pick archer classes when playing RPG''s. Dude,tell me, I need to know how you got that skill." Jack eagerly asked. As a player himself Sam knew how Jack felt, so he said " I threw my shield to distract the zombie and after the fight I got the message. But the message read that I got the skill for repeated fighting with my shield. In my opinion the best way is to train as much as you can. For you that means shooting as much zombies as possible. Even if there aren''t any zombies you should do practice shots. Eventually you will get a skill as well." Sam and Jack spoke for another hour before both of them fell asleep totally exhausted from fighting. When they woke up it was already midday. They must have been totally fatigued so they had slept about 15 hours. They ate a light meal while talking. "By the way, where are the remaining people of your group?" Sam asked. "I saw them running upstairs when I returned from the forth floor. They must have used an apartment on the fifth floor to sleep. Do you want to go upstairs? I will introduce you to them. They are good people." Jack suggested. Sam nodded and both of them left for the fifth floor. Patch 1.0 Sam and Jack reached the fifth floor, when the world turned dark again! '' Patch 1.0 Hey guuuuys, it''s God! I have to make a few announcements after watching my new game unfold the last days. Well, first of all, it seems I overestimated the players! You people suck!! I picked two billion players and turned the rest into weak monsters. I spawned a few more myself to help you level up. I mean it''s common sense that people start kiting and fighting over exp when they start a new RPG, but who would have thought that after this short amount of time already one billion players died!! Humans are too weak, it''s not enjoyable for me to watch cowards die, while crying and yelling for their moms! Now that half the participants died and most of them turned into zombies you guys are going to have a hard time. I racked my brain, not to make it easier for you, but more enjoyable for me to watch! There are some interesting individuals after all and I can''t wait to see them level, build up some forces and engage in PKing Hahahaha!!! The first change will be the guild system. From now on you can form party''s. The biggest advantage is the exp distribution. The one who kills the zombie gets 50% of its exp, while the rest of the guild shares the other 50%. This way you can help weaker players level up. There is also a ''call'' function for guild members. This way you can communicate with each other like with a phone. Gulid members can be kicked with a majority voting. I think, that this way, you won''t die so easily anymore. Furthermore I am changing the odds to stumble upon equipment. When players reach Level 3 or even Level 4 without finding a single piece of equipment, I most likely made a mistake. So the chances to find new armor or weapons will be improved. The biggest change is my creation of NPC villages, castles and ruins all over the countryside. These are going to be new places for you to live at, explore and maybe even to govern. The NPC''s can be killed too, but they can also level up and fight alongside you players. They are as much human as you, with feelings, needs and no respawn. It is your choice if you want to enslave or kill them, or if you lead them rightly and help them to survive. Every choice you make has it''s pros and cons and will change your future to the worse or better. Your actions decide, if the NPCs like you or not. The NPC''s will also be the people to give quests! In every settlement will be a trader, where you can trade unusable gear into equipment that benefits you. Lastly, to all the people hiding in the bigger cities, you should leave as fast as possible cause from tomorrow onwards, these will be roamed by higher leveled monsters...Hahahaha. The cities will be hunting grounds for players higher than Level 10! To open the guild menu just think about it and it will show you all the necessary information. That''s it from me for now...oh I almost forgot. When you guys reach Level 5 there will be two big surprises for you, that you should look forward to. See you, have fun, survive and until the next announcement!"Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Sam stood on the fifth floor again. He and Jack looked worried at each other at this moment. The town they were situated at will turn into some sort of dungeon! "We need to find the others and leave immediately!" Jack spoke. "Yeah, let''s find them, pack some provisions and flee." Sam agreed. Even though, he was quite confident in his abilities, Sam would never try and enter a Level 10 dungeon at Level 4. They had to find a new settlement, where they could live and establish a guild. Sam and Jack went to the last apartment on the floor. Sam remembered one was locked,while in the others bedroom a young guy killed himself and dyed the bed with his blood. They wouldn''t sleep in there, so Sam suggested to check the last one first. They opened the apartment door and entered the living room. Sounds were coming from the bedroom, so Sam went over and opened the door for a few centimeters to look inside. He was shocked and stared inside a couple seconds before closing the door again. Jack saw his weird actions and asked "What''s going on man...are they inside? Are they zombies??" "Look inside and tell me honestly, if you knew what they were doing!" Sam gestured to Jack. After Jack checked the bedroom, he went back into the living room where Sam was waiting. "You have to believe me, I didnt know!" Jack defended himself. Both of them had seen the inside of the bedroom. The remaining three people of Jack''s group were in there. Han had tied the hands of both females, as well as their eyes and ripped their clothing. He whipped them and made small cuts with his knife on their smooth skin. He groped and fucked them as well but both of the females weren''t struggling. The opposite, they liked it and moaned in pleasure. "I can''t believe he ties,whips,cuts and fucks them! Furthermore one of them is his sister!" Jack was baffled and Sam added " Also all of them seem to like it. I can''t believe they fuck around after the announcement a moment ago. Maybe they became crazy?" "It doesn''t really matter, after seeing this I won''t travel with them anymore. They simply ignored the announcement and keep on drowning in pleasure at times like this. Even in times like these with no laws anymore incest is disgusting and shouldn''t be done!! The most important thing right now is to leave this city and get stronger, both as fast as possible!" Jack made up his mind. They went down and packed up all the necessities for the travel. Sam thought about something and said " Hey Jack, how about we make a guild together? This way we can both earn exp when fighting. Maybe we can reach Level 5 before reaching a new settlement!" "Good idea, the advantages are obvious. How about you create it, that way you will be the guild leader, I don''t want to have a position like this, where I am responsible for human lives." " I don''t want this responsibility as well, but we can keep the guild small for now. If we don''t know much about them, we shouldn''t invite them. Trust is really important! When we invite 3 people, they can band together and veto our votes, or they could possibly kick us out of our own guild!" Sam explained. He opened the guild menu and chose ''create guild''. He named it ''Nightwatch'' because of his favorite series Game of Thrones and invited Jack with a look at him. Jack accepted and the member count rose to two. "Nightwatch? Isn''t that from Game of Thrones? Nice idea!" Jack laughed and finished packing his backpack. Sam had finished too. They only took water and food that wouldn''t get moldy too fast. Jack had a self built quiver at his belt with nine arrows and bow in hand. He also wore leather boots, that he got from Sam. They made their way down the staircase but didn''t search the lower floors. It was already past 1 pm and they couldn''t carry too much anyways. After five days, Sam finally took a step outside the apartment building and took a deep breath of air. They started heading south, to where Jack''s group originally came from. The factory both of them had worked at was located at the outskirts of the town. The way took them more than five hours and they engaged in countless fights against zombies. They found a simple chainmail that only Sam could wear and a leather quiver, with room for 20 arrows and speed +1! ''God didn''t lie, two equipments in 5 hours is not bad'' Sam thought. Jack also leveled up to Level 4 putting a point in accuracy. Like this, they reached the forest on the outskirts at about 7pm and started crossing it. Half an hour later, it was still bright outside,because of the summer season, Sam and Jack could see a small village in the distance. Because of the wooden defense wall around it, they concluded that it was a spawned village and made their way towards it. Woodchester It took Sam and Jack another hour to reach the gate. Sam was panting heavily. He looked at his new chainmail. (Medium Armor chainmail-> Defense +3) " I will get used to the weight of this thing. The +3 defense makes it worth it to sweat a little bit." Sam said. "Halt!" a guard at the gate yelled. "Who are you? Where are you coming from? What is your purpose here in Woodchester?" Sam and Jack were startled because of the barrage of questions. Sam took a step forward and spoke "We were living about six hours from here,but our home got destroyed by zombies. We are two adventurers looking for a new place to stay." " I have never seen you before, so if you leave your weapons at the gate and speak to the village chief first, I will let you enter." the guard told them. Sam and Jack accepted, deposited their weapons at the gate and made their way to the village chiefs house at the town center. His house was guarded as well. Sam and Jack got stopped again when approaching the house. They entered after telling the guards the same story as before. The house wasn''t really spacious and like the other houses completely built from wood. A big room was used as kitchen and living room, and the second room was used to sleep. That was it, no second story or bathroom. ''Definitely a spawned village. These sorts of houses couldn''t be found in this area anymore.'' Sam thought and saw an old man about 70 years old coming towards them. "Hello, I am the village chief of Woodchester Rudolph, who are you two?" Sam answered. "We are travelers who lost their home. My name is Sam, this is Jack. We are searching for a place to stay for now. We won''t bring trouble to this place, village chief. On the contrary, we have combat experience and could help you with various dangerous tasks!" " We have a defense post on the northern street which got attacked by a big group of zombies and needs reinforcements, while on the street to the east is another village that gets constantly attacked by goblins. If you can help us out and show your sincerity, I will give you a small shack to live for now." "Ok, we can help you, where should we head to first?" Sam asked. "Go to the northern defense post first and help them." After their meeting with the village chief, Sam and Jack left his place again. They retrieved their weapons and departed. It slowly started to turn dark, so the both of them walked quickly. They spotted the post after walking for about 40 minutes. It looked like a little castle. One big building and a tall tower surrounded by a wall. It was a simple structure that blocked the narrow passage leading to the valley, Woodchester was built in. It was currently surrounded by a group of zombies. They were growling and scratching the wooden wall. "That must be about 30 zombies and they sent two people? Does the village chief want to kill us?" Sam wondered as he watched the zombies.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Jack looked at Sam and said " How about we lure one or two of them away, kill them and repeat that?" "Yeah, let''s do that, stand over there behind the rock. I will be the bait and lure them away from the NPC camp, when we pass your position, start firing." Sam slowly walked near the zombies. He started knocking his club at the shield walking one step at a time. The plan worked but instead of two zombies, five pursued him. Sam panicked but still returned to Jack, leading the zombies. He passed him shouting "I lured five of them, wait until they are 20 meter away, then start shooting!" He continued walking another 30 meter, then turned around facing the zombies with resolution. He didn''t know when, but his character had changed a lot. His thirst for power grew day by day. Facing five zombies he felt no fear anymore. He looked forward to the fight, because the more enemies he killed, the stronger he got and right now his goal was to reach Level 5! His eyes focused and he charged, tackling the first zombie aside and ramming the second with his shield. Another one had already been killed by an arrow from Jack, that left two zombies standing. One of them turned around and went towards Jack after being shot in the back by him. Sam took care of the other zombie, chrushing it''s head. He swiftly disposed of the two zombies that were standing up. Meanwhile Jack killed the last one and started collecting his arrows. After a five minute break Sam left and returned with five zombies again. They killed them as easy as the first time. Sam also got his hands on some metal shoulder guards, which he could add to his chainmail and that gave him an additional point in defense. After another break, Sam left for the third time but returned with a worried expression. He took position and informed Jack via teamspeak. "There are six enemies this time. There seems to be a different type as well. It''s a ranged attacker, who shot arrows, I couldn''t see him cause I fled when the first arrow was fired. Try to take him out first,you should identify him easily. Jack nodded from his position and waited. When the enemies passed him his facial expression turned gloomy. He whispered in the guild chat " Sam the ranged attacker is a skeleton! It''s wielding a long bow, quite a bit better than mine....more important is that it will be quite hard for me to kill it. Skeletons are vulnerable to blunt weapons right? You should kill it. Same tactic as before, but I will try to shoot 3 zombies this time and lure another one. You should protect yourself and kill the skeleton as fast as possible. After that you can kill the remaining zombie and help me if it is needed." By the time Jack finished he had already started to shoot. The first arrow was a clean headshot. After that he started shouting to attract the remaining enemies. Sam took the opportunity and rushed at the skeleton. It heard the sound of Sam''s chainmail and started to fire at him. He blocked the first arrow, but the power behind it slowed him down. He could feel the tip of the arrow scratching his gloves through the shield. '' Without this metal plate on the back of the gloves this would be a painful wound'' Sam thought but didn''t stop charging. Another arrow was shot but barely missed Sam''s head. He got in reach and slammed his club on the zombies head. *Crack* A single hit was enough and the skeleton fell down. ''Congratulations Sam Williams! For defeating an equipped monster one level higher than yourself you are awarded with two stat points.'' ''Both in defense!'' ''Stat points allocated'' Sam had no time to catch his breath, he saw 3 remaining zombies closing in on Jack. He followed and killed the first zombie with a swing from behind. The last two were just a couple of meters away from Jack who had only one arrow left. Sam measured the distance, took a few steps forward and threw his shield at one of the zombies. The shield hit the back of it''s head and damaged its brain. Jack who was confronted with the last zombie didn''t shoot his remaining arrow. He instead grabbed it and ran forward as quick as he could. In the blink of an eye he arrived in front of the zombie and stabbed out two times swiftly. Both stabs landed in the right eye and even though the first only damaged the skull, the second stab split it and pierced the zombies brain. ''Accuracy improves close combat too, maybe i should level it a bit as well??'' Sam pondered while the last zombie fell down. " We should rest for a few minutes then check out the situation at the NPC camp. We killed more than half of the horde after all!" Jack suggested. Sam nodded and sat down heavily. He was exhausted after all the fighting. '' I have the feeling that I am lacking something to level up! Something more is required to reach Level 5 than killing normal or equipped zombies...'' After pondering for the next minutes, Sam stood up and walked in the camps direction with Jack. Zombie General On their way back,Jack kept inspecting his new longbow. (Advanced Longbow-> Attack +3 Accuracy +1) "That''s a really good bow, it has three times the attack of the beginner bow and also boosts accuracy!" Jack was satisfied with his new weapon. " It''s a shame four arrows broke in the last battles. The other five won''t last much longer as well." Sam slapped Jack''s shoulder saying " I am sure we can get some in Woodchester or the defense camp in front." It was already dark outside by the time Sam and Jack returned. It was quiet, about twenty zombies lay around the wooden walls. ''It seems like the NPC''s could deal with the rest.'' Sam thought as they neared the camp. He started waving his hand and shouted "Heeey, we are humans! We were sent by Rudolph to help you!" Sam and Jack reached the gate. They could hear silent discussing behind the gate, but after a few minutes it still opened. Five people stood in front of them. The only woman in the group stepped forward and asked "You are the ones who lured half of them away? Where did you bring them?" "What do you mean, where did we bring them? Me and my comrade killed them.." Sam answered, looking puzzled at the group in front of him. No one of them looked like a soldier. They wore normal clothes or a simple hunter like leather garment and wielded spears or bows. " You killed all of them with just the the two of you? Sirs , you must be experienced fighters to kill so many of those damned undead in such a short time. We only killed so many of them because we could stab through some gaps in this defense wall. We went outside earlier to kill the remaining five zombies but two of us still got bitten. Killing two people you knew your whole live is a horrible thing." the woman said. Everyone had a look of grief and pain on his face. While Jack had inspected his new bow on the way, Sam had thought about something a lot more serious and so he started asking questions after the woman stopped talking. " I am sorry for your loss, but right now we have a few urgent matters on hand. How many people are stationed here excluding you five? What sort and how many of each weapons do you have? Is it possible to get more reinforcements from Woodchester? And please answer quickly, we don''t have much time!" "Sam what is going on? I thought we could sleep here, so we wouldn''t need to travel at night. What ''urgent matters'' do you mean?" Jack leaned over and asked so that the other people couldn''t hear it. "I thought about it on the way, at midnight the cities will change. What will happen to the zombies? Will they be killed or upgraded to stronger ones? I don''t think so. In my opinion, god will spawn new monsters and ban the low leveled ones from the city. That would mean they will spread out towards the outskirts, eventually appearing here. There will be just a small percentage of the whole population coming this way, but it should still be about 200 to 300 zombies! Do you think we can hold this defense post with seven people? That''s why I need as much information as i can get! Our lives are the most important, i will abandon these NPC''s if the situation gets too dangerous without a second thought, BUT..if we can save them from a hopeless situation like this, we might end up with a lot more benefits than just a simple shack!" Sam whispered in Jack''s ear. His eyes were cold. ''Only my live and the lives of my comrades matter. I will end up dead, if i try to help everyone in the future!The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "One of us got hit by an arrow from the skeleton archer, his shoulder got shot, so he is unable to fight right now. The rest is dead by now. More reinforcements are unlikely because a few men have to defend the village. We have around ten spears, two bows and 30 arrows remaining. By the way, I am Nissa, the village hunter. Your names are?" the woman, Nissa asked. " I am Sam, this is Jack. We are trying to prove our sincerity by helping out, but I have to say, this situation doesn''t look too good for us. I got information, that a horde of zombies is most likely headed in our direction. We have three options right now. We can flee and fall back to Woodchester, abandoning this defense post. Defending it till death is the second option, but the third one is my favorite and also the one we benefit from the most. We should retreat while fighting, decimating the horde bit by bit. If you guys tell me your levels and classes, I can work out a plan." " I am level 3 and an archer, Norman is an archer too. He is at Level 2. The other three are knights, but as you can see, they don''t even have shields. They were taken because we needed a few more people. They are all Level 1 and not even 18 years old." Nissa answered truthfully. ''The situation looks bad, the NPC''s fighting strength is disappointing. These knights have no combat experience, they will flee for their life if the fight gets too chaotic. I will take the rear, as the first line against the zombies. The two NPC archers and Jack will deploy hit and run tactic, while the three apprentice knights protect them and the hurt person. Only sure kill shots should be fired because of the limited arrows. I may be able to fetch some, but definitely not all of them. If they run out of ammo, they should return to Woodchester replenish their arrows and return. While they are gone the knights can help me out.'' Sam planned in his head. He told his plan to the others, who agreed to it. Two people stood guard on the tower, while the rest of them ate and took a rest waiting for the arrival of the horde. Sam woke up from loud shouting at about 1 am. The guards had spotted a group of about 200 zombies coming towards them. Everyone woke up and packed their stuff. Sam, who had changed his weapon to a spear, was sharpening the metal tip, when everyone gathered around him. He looked around and said " Ok, the time has come. We will leave this death trap and wait outside. You guys should take position around 20 meters behind me and only shoot the zombies left and right of me. I don''t want to be hit by one of your arrows , so aim carefully!" They went outside the defensive post and took position. Sam stood there alone, waiting for a crowd, that could swallow and devour him in a second. He looked calm on the outside, but his brain was working without pause. '' If i stop moving, I''m dead. If they surround me, I''m dead as well. I am not allowed to make any mistakes or I end up dead! It doesn''t matter, because I need more experience and power. Let''s see if I can reach Level 5 till dawn.'' Ten minutes after their group left the walls, they saw the zombies coming through the small passage. The first group consisted of ten zombies, so Sam ordered the archers to shoot. He would have enough time to collect the arrows before the main force comes through. One arrow broke, but the rest could be reused after Sam collected them. The young Level 2 archer leveled up in the process too. Their group retreated a few steps and waited. They could hear multiple moaning sounds becoming louder and louder. The horde appeared! The NPC''s turned pale and started trembling. Sam and Jack were trembling as well. But Sam didn''t tremble because of fear. His blood was boiling at this moment, because of excitement. He had spotted a massive zombie holding a round copper shield, with spikes attached on the edge around it. The shield looked sturdy and reliable, while the spikes were razor sharp but all of this didn''t excite Sam as much as this: (Male Zombie General Level 5 Boss) '' It''s a boss monster. I am pretty sure I need to kill it in order to reach Level 5.'' Sam thought in excitement while he waited for it to attack. He was dumbfounded after it''s next action. The zombie general roared and the zombies stopped moving right behind it. The general looked at the ten new zombie corpses on the ground in front of Sam. Afterwards it roared again and waved it''s shield. Ten zombies stepped forward and attacked. Because of the 100 meter distance between his group and the horde, Sam decided to use the same tactic as before. They easily disposed of the ten zombies. Sam retrieved his arrows and returned to his position. He looked at the zombie general, who stood there, as if thinking about something. It waved it''s shield and roared again, but this time 30 zombies stepped forward! Sam turned around and shouted " It is somewhat intelligent. We need to retreat and lure the 30 zombies away. Let''s retreat in the direction of the village. In an emergency we have a place to run to." The others nodded and walked away luring the group of zombies with them. ''We can''t take on 30 zombies by ourselves, I have to think of a plan! If we can''t kill them, I have to prepare an escape plan for Jack and myself'' hit and run Sam and his group walked for five minutes, trailed by the 30 zombies. Sam kept on racking his brain for a usable plan, but nothing came to his mind. Nissa asked while walking " What do we do now? If we keep on walking we will lead them to Woodchester!" Sam stopped, looked at the group and declared "We don''t have many options right now. I want you three knights to head back with the wounded. Inform Rudolph what is happening and send someone with plenty arrows. We will systematically shoot them down. Most of the work will depend on you archers, i will secure the front line, protecting you. When they come too close we retreat and repeat that action." The knights left shortly after, while Sam and the archers prepared for battle. When the zombies reached 20 meter away from them, the archers started shooting. They killed five and Sam took down two zombies, when he defended them. He stabbed the first, afterwards shattered the seconds skull by slamming his shield on it''s head. When the others got too close, Sam''s group retreated quickly and repeated that action. After they had stopped for the third time Sam was panting heavily. He was wearing heavy armor and kept fighting in close combat without a good rest. Only eight zombies remained from the original 30. The archers started to fire again and killed the rest of them. All of them sat down on the ground. The continuous battling had totally worn them out. They had rested for ten minutes when five men came riding over on horseback. They stopped and dismounted. "Hello Nissa, the young knights told us your plan. We brought around 200 arrows. Rudolph told us to help you out as well, so you can rest for now. "Roar" At this moment a loud roar was coming from behind them. The zombie general had followed them with his whole army. 150 zombies were looking at them with hollow eyes, while they walked towards them. "ROAR" This time it roared a lot louder and the zombies started charging! "They are too close! We have to retreat immediately!!" Sam shouted and started running towards the horses. The riders got on and shared their horses with the others. They rode for 5 minutes and reached a windmill. Sam gave commands and the archers got in position. When they waited for the horde another group came from the villages direction. They came by foot, they were players this time. The leader was a big bald guy with a bastard sword on his shoulder, obviously a warrior. Two girls followed him. One held a staff, while the other wielded two daggers. What wondered Sam was the complete set of leather armor the warrior was wearing. '' It is impossible for someone to be completely equipped at this phase of the game, unless he stole it. His two companions seem to be completely unequipped, except of the assassins second dagger. Maybe he took their gear and traded for stuff he can wear?'' Sam thought while he watched the group of three appropaching. " Who of you is Sam? This old guy... Rupert, or what his name was, told us to come here and help. Didn''t expect to see some players here as well, but your equipment is quite lousy don''t you think? What Level are you?" the big guy started asking. "I am Sam and my Level doesn''t matter. I am the leader of this mission at the moment." Sam bluntly stated. The bald guy observed him with a haughty expression and asked " So what is the situation, the village chief said you would brief us?" "In a few minutes a big horde of zombies will come at us. About 150 of them are left and they are lead by a boss monster who has the ability to control them. He makes them move faster or stop on his command. He is no simple zombie, who moves because of his desire for flesh and blood. I think he wants to massacre every single one of us!"The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. "What?? 150 zombies and only 12 people to stop them? How are you planning to do this? I will say in advance that I won''t sacrifice myself for these NPC''s and their village. If your plan is bad or has no chance of success I will leave immediately!" the bald guy declared with an arrogant facial expression. '' My first impression of him was right, I don''t like this guy. He is speaking about abandoning us, right from the start. I cannot trust him! If he wants to run I will let him, but if he tries to frame, or use us as scapegoat, I will kill him on the spot. I won''t let myself or Jack die, because of an arrogant coward!'' " The plan is quite easy. We are deploying hit and run tactics. The ranged attackers shoot them, while the close combat fighters defend them. Before we can get surrounded or swallowed by the zombies, we retreat a few hundred meters and attack again. We should be able to kill all of them before reaching Woodchester."Sam told the newcomers their strategy. A moment later, the horde of zombies came into sight. The general was quite eye catching with his copper shield and big body. With about 2,5 meters he towered over the rest of the zombies. He roared and the zombies stopped. Sam''s group took position as well. The archers and mage girl were in the back, while ''baldy'', the assassin and Sam stood in front of them. The battle started and the archers kept firing arrows without pause. They killed a dozen zombies and retreated quickly. After 200 meters they stopped again and took their position. While the arrows were flying and the close combat fighters fought to protect the archers, a scream came from behind. Unaware to their group about 20 zombies had appeared behind them. By the time Sam turned around he saw two of the newly arrived archers getting ripped apart. Blood and flesh was flying in the around and their terror filled screams filled the air. Sam''s group was surrounded, so he turned to ''baldy'' and said " You and the assassin need to protect our rear. Try to kill these zombies as quick as possible while I take care of this side." The bald guy looked strangely at him but still took the assassin and went to the rear. A little fireball passed Sam and incinerated a zombie who tried to attack him. It was the mage girl but after firing the first fireball, she looked really exhausted. The main force of the zombies approached and another scream sounded from behind. A third archer was ripped into little pieces. '' What is this bald fucker doing? I told him to protect the rear and he only kills off the zombies in front of him, letting the others pass!'' The bald guy shouted something to the assassin at this moment, while pointing at the mage girl. The assassin ran over to her and fled together with her. They used the path previously cleared by the warrior, when he abandoned the archers. Sam could do nothing to help because the main force arrived in front of him. Only 70 zombies were left of the main force, while six of Sam''s group remained. Jack had seen the player group escape and stabbed the remaining zombies behind them to clear their path of retreat. He retreated together with the other archers, only to see Sam slowly getting surrounded. Sam kept on waving and stabbing his spear, while at the same time pushing out his shield to keep the distance from the zombies. More and more of them kept on surrounding Sam, until the zombie general roared again. 50 zombies focused their attention on the group of archers and started to charge at them afterwards. Sam started to panic and somehow tried to escape the encirclement but without success. Between his swings and stabs he looked to his friend Jack. He fled with three NPC''s while the remaining villager got caught and ripped apart. Their group was fatigued from the continuous fighting and got caught one after the other. Only Nissa and Jack remained, fleeing for their life''s. Shortly after, Sam couldn''t see them anymore. He was still fighting 15 zombies on his own. The zombie general stood at the back roaring occasionally. He controlled the zombies and let them play with Sam until he was totally exhausted. Eight zombies were remaining, while the rest had been killed by Sam. He himself was half kneeling on the ground, trying to catch his breath. His spear had broken long ago, so he used his backup club until it broke as well. Finally the zombie general commanded the remaining zombies to stand back. It walked in front of Sam looking down at him. The bright moonlight illuminated his face and Sam could swear he saw him grinning while he raised his hand, holding the shield. '' Is he mocking me?? This god damn motherfucker wants to kill me??'' Sam''s eyes turned red and he stood up trembling heavily. He was filled with pure hatred and anger, when something snapped in his head and he roared "I WILL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!!" The general noticed the changes and retreated, signaling his underlings to attack Sam. Sam felt no more exhaustion, only hatred and an unbearable urge to kill. He dashed towards the first zombie ramming him to the ground. He knelt on the zombies chest holding it''s head while repeatedly smashing the edge of his shield against the zombies neck. Foul blood splashed on his armor and face but Sam didn''t mind. With a final hit, he severed the zombies head, throwing it aside. He turned around and waited for the remaining enemies. Sam killed them in similar ways, smashing their heads, or decapitating them with the help of his shield until he was soaked in zombie blood. He walked to his final enemy, the zombie general. The boss monster looked at Sam, who made his way towards him, like a god of slaughter, covered in blood and with fury filled, red eyes. "You are the last one! I promise you, I will rip your head off with my own two hands" Sam wore a cruel smile as he approached the zombie general. Shield Berserker If the monster standing in front of Sam had been an orc, or something else with emotions, the enemy would have most likely fled. The appearance of Sam at this moment was simply too frightening. He walked slowly, while droplets of blood were dripping down his hands and face. Unfortunately, Sam''s enemy was a zombie, who didn''t feel anything. It readied it''s copper shield and started walking itself. Sam was filled with excitement and desire for battle, so he began to run. He took the opportunity and rammed the zombie. It staggered backwards two steps, but resumed walking immediately. Sam didn''t wait for it and charged again. He tried to hit it with the edge of his shield, but it kept defending and even used a few opportunities for counterattacks. Sam bled from some shallow cuts after a few exchanges and he had also been pierced in the right side of the chest from the shield spikes but he was still standing firmly. ''Kill!! Kill it!! KILL IT!!!!'', these were the only thoughts running through his mind. Sam roared and attacked again. He arrived in front of the zombie general and smashed his shield sideways, to deflect the zombies copper shield. The already worn down wooden shield shattered into pieces, but still managed to push the other shield sideways. Sam jumped forward, tackling the zombie with his shoulder. Both of them fell down but Sam was the first one to react. He mounted the zombie, pressing one knee on his left, and one knee on his right arm. The general struggled and tried to bite his leg but Sam was quicker and held down it''s head with one of his hands. Sam''s cruel smile widened when he started to punch the zombies head. His punches got harder and harder every time he hit, ending up breaking two of his fingers in the end. The last punch hit its neck, producing a cracking sound. "HAHAHAHA, it''s your turn now!" Sam was laughing loudly. He gripped the zombies neck, as if he wanted to strangle it, but instead he started to pull. His actions produced ripping and breaking sounds that could be clearly heard through the silent night. With a last strong push Sam ripped off the zombies head. A fountain of blood came spewing out the neck, coloring the ground in red. Sam threw the head away and rolled of the zombie. His eyes had reverted back to normal and he lost consciousness laying on the ground. Sam woke up, only to find himself in the ''black space'' with a big red screen in front of his eyes.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. '' Congratulations Sam Williams!!... '' "What? That''s all? What about th-" ''Dude, stop talking, I am actually taking my time to talk and explain some things to you, so stop fucking interrupting me!!'' !!!! '' Well, first of, let me congratulate you again! You are the first person, to kill a Level 5 boss and therefore reaching Level 5. You probably already guessed it, but I am clarifying it nevertheless. For the levels 5,10,15,20 and so on you need to kill a boss monster on the same level.Level 5 for Level 5, Level 10 for Level 10 and so on.... You are an interesting individual, the first Level 5 character and especially your last fight was pure entertainment for me, so I thought about a prize to gift you. You have to know, that the classes will change on some specific Levels, the first change is at Level 5. That is the moment when the knight class evolves into a sub class, like monk or paladin. These sub classes specialize in one specific weapon, or style of fighting. I like your character quite a lot, you are calm and intelligent at times, but if you get mad....Hahaha that''s the most fun thing to watch, so i decided to give you a class, no one else can get. A unique class!! Like this, my entertainment for the next weeks should be safe! I don''t want to steal more of your time, or answer dumb questions, so I will send you back. Keep entertaining me!'' Sam woke up. A read screen hovered on front of him. ''Congratulations Sam Williams! For being the first one to reach Level 5, you are rewarded with five stat points'' "I''m putting one point in defense,attack,speed,stamina and health each." Sam thought and the screen disappeared, only to be replaced by another red screen. ''Class Change: Your class has changed from knight to shield berserker.'' ''Unique Class- Shield Berserker: The shield berserker uses his shield for defense and as his primary weapon. The more damage a shield beserker receives, or deflects and defends with his shield, the higher his damage output will be. This includes mental damage as well. Note that too much damage can trigger ''rage mode''. The berserker will start attacking, while ignoring any sorts of injuries, until the cause of his rage gets eliminated. Side effects may appear after rage mode ends. Shield Berserkers can use one-handed weapons, with a 50% decrease to the weapon stats. If they use a shield, all of it''s stats increase by 50%! '' '' Skill unlocked! Becoming a shield berserker, you unlocked the skill (passive taunting). This skill makes the aggro of monsters concentrate on you. As long as they see you, monsters of every type will deem you the first and most important target. Damage from other sources will recharge the monsters aggro. This skill levels automatically. Leveling this skill up will let the monsters focus on you more and will make them ignore more damage from other sources than you. This skill only affects creatures categorized as monsters!'' Sam read the texts, while still laying on the ground. His mind was in turmoil. ''How did I kill this boss? I can''t remember clearly. I somehow lost control!'' Sam looked down at himself. He was covered in blood from head to toe. He felt his broken fingers and the numerous wounds on his body but he decided to stand up and pursue Jack and Nissa. However, he first checked the zombie generals corpse. When he saw the corpse he remembered, how he had ripped it''s head of and how good he felt while doing it. "It seems I am changing. If I saw myself like this, a few days ago, I would have fainted. The stuff I''m doing and thinking is changing too." Sam talked to himself. He picked up the copper shield and inspected it. (Advanced Copper Shield-> defense +4 attack +2 stamina +1) "Good stuff!!" Sam was satisfied, but immediately started pursuing Jack with a frowning face. Sam walked a few steps but quickly realized, that he wouldn''t make it back tonight. He had bleed too much. His body and mind was totally exhausted, from fighting the whole time, and from drinking and eating nearly nothing in the last hours. After a few dozen meters Sam finally fell down face first. He had lost consciousness. Scouting Sam woke up from getting blinded by the light of the rising sun. He had slept throughout the rest of the night. "Wow, my injuries are nearly gone! Only my chest and fingers are still hurting, all the smaller wounds have fully healed!" Sam stood up and checked his body''s condition. He felt totally refreshed, as if the fight last night never happened. He grabbed the copper shield and started walking in the direction of Woodchester. '' I hope Jack made it. They were pursued by 50 zombies, it is possible that they were caught..'' Sam was worried the whole way. After 15 minutes the outlines of Woodchester came into his line of sight. 200 meters in front of the gate lay a big pile of corpses. It were the corpses of the 50 zombies that had chased after Jack and Nissa. Some zombies were burnt to a crisp, others got decapitated or stabbed, but most of them had their heads smashed into meat paste. When Sam neared the gate he was stopped by the same guard as last time. "Halt!!...oh it''s..Sam right? A lot has happened since yesterday, please enter. You should visit Rudloph first!" the guard advised Sam, who responded by nodding. He arrived after a quick walk and entered the village chiefs house. A total of seven people were inside. Two guards stood beside the entrance looking around cautiously. At the dining table sat five people, including Rudolph. Sam smiled when he saw Jack and Nissa, seemingly unharmed, but the smile turned into a frown when he saw the bald player, who had fled the day before and an unfamiliar old guy about 45 years old, who sat beside him. "Sam you didn''t die?!! Thank god, I thought the general got you!" Jack sprang up and rushed at Sam. Both of them clasped hands and smiled at each other. Sam looked at the remaining people at the table. Nissa and Rudolph were smiling at him too, while the baldy frowned and turned to the old guy. The player looked at Sam while speaking with the baldy. The old man didn''t look like a fighter at all. He was about 1,70m tall and thin. He wore a robe and glasses, holding a staff in his hand. ''He looks like the calculating type of person. If he is comrades with the baldy I won''t interact with him!'' Sam thought. ''Maybe I should kill him before he can do something mischievous? When I am at it, I should kill this bald coward as well.'' Sam''s thoughts became more ruthless unnoticed to Sam himself. "Sam, it is good to see you and I''m really happy you returned alive." Rudolph greeted him with a big smile. "Sit down first, Jack can tell you what happened." Sam took a seat at the end of the table, opposite of Rudolph. Jack narrated "Nissa and myself were chased by the zombies until a few hundred meters in front of the gate. We got surrounded and nearly died, when Jason (baldy) and his friends came and saved us. Together with a hand full of guards they annihilated the zombies." " So what have you been doing all night? We fought a huge army of undead and saved your comrade, why weren''t you helping?" the bald player, Jason asked in an arrogant tone.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. " My path got blocked and I had to fight a way out." Sam stared at Jason emotionlessly. Rudolph changed the topic, before any discussion could arise. " I would like to thank you adventurers for your help. Nissa told me about the huge number of zombies all of you killed. May the people, who suffered death today Rest In Peace! I prepared a little house for everyone of you, so please have a good rest for now. Nissa, could you show them the way?" Nissa nodded and led them to their houses. On the way Jason''s two female companions had joined them too. Jack kept talking to Nissa the whole time. Sam saw them exchanging a few glances while smiling. They arrived at a silent street with mainly uninhabited houses. Everyone chose one and entered to rest for a bit. Sam took a quick nap and left his house to look around the village. He found a shop that sold a variety of potions, as well as a blacksmith. He entered the blacksmith''s shop and looked around. The smith came over from the back of the store, after hearing someone entering. "Hello, I''m the blacksmith, you can call me Arthur. How can I help you?" "Hello, my name is Sam, I only arrived here yesterday and wanted to check the goods and compare the prices. May I ask what you want for this steal shield over there?" Sam pointed at a big tower shield standing in the corner. The shopkeeper looked annoyed but still answered " I don''t really have needs for coins and have barely seen any coins in my life, so I mostly trade for armor, weapons, food or other stuff that equals it''s worth. Your shield looks really new to me..you aren''t really interested in that tower shield, right?" Sam''s eyes flashed for a moment, " I might need another one in the future. Thanks for helping, I will visit you again soon!" Sam left to meet Rudolph. " Sam,what brings you to me?" " Chief, I wanted to talk about the situation in the surrounding area. How is the village in the east doing and what can you tell me about the places south and west from here." "I think they are still holding out, even though I haven''t received any information since yesterday. In the south are ruins of an old castle that is occupied by orcs. There are only about 15 of them, but they are much stronger than undead or goblins. There are forests and lush green on for about ten miles, after that starts a huge desert. We explored a few miles inside, but couldn''t see the end of it. Our tribe never had the urge to cross the desert." " I am going to scout out the castle in the south. I think that life for us humans will become many times harder in the future, so we have to plan accordingly! If we could clear the castle and the overall structure isn''t too damaged, we could settle in and rebuild it. I will scout out first and return to make a plan" Sam told Rudolph and left afterwards. He got a simple map from one of the guards and started his exploration. Sam walked in a normal pace and reached a hill after about one hour. He slowly climbed it and scouted ahead when he reached the top. A big, slightly damaged castle had been built with a huge mountain as back cover and defensive walls protecting the remaining three sides. On the right side of the castle were woods, while the left side consisted of flat green land, which could be used for farming. In front of the castle were about 300-400 meters of barren land.After that was the hill, where Sam was standing. He could see a few silhouettes standing on the walls and a few more walking inside the castle compounds. "This place is perfect! It''s only one hour walk to the village and the damages to the walls are not as severe as I thought." Sam mumbled to himself. He stayed for another hour to observe. He counted 14 silhouettes but the distance was too great for him to get more detailed information. He turned around and left afterwards. Sam got attacked by a few zombies on his way back but he used his new shield to dispose of them, by stabbing their eyes with the spikes or simply smashing their heads. "This shield feels more like a weapon with these spikes. It is a lot smoother killing zombies with this shield compared to spears or clubs." Sam returned at 11 am and directly made his way towards Rudolph''s house. He told him about the situation and his plan concerning the castle. " I think we should conquer this castle and move the village over there. More and stronger monsters will appear in the future, that''s when your wooden wall won''t protect you anymore. In my opinion we should harvest all the crops around the village and move the villagers time after time." " That plan could work but our village is too small and many archers died in the last battle. If we lose more combat strength we wouldn''t be able to defend ourselves anymore!" "I thought about that too, so I will pay a visit to the village in the east. I will ask them to join us. Their villages defenses are most likely the same as Woodchesters, what means that they will need a better place to live in the future too!" Sam told Rudolph his plan. He ate a light meal and left for the NPC village in the east. More players Sam was continuously attacked the whole way to the village. It took him one and a half hours to reach it. The village was more or less built the same way as Woodchester with wooden buildings and a defense wall out of wood. "Halt! Stranger what is your business in our little Oakhausen?" the guard stopped Sam and asked. "I am an adventurer of Woodchester, a catastrophe is approaching and I was sent to inform your village chief." "Leave your weapons here, I will take you to the chiefs house!" The guard led the way in a hurried manner, that way they reached the house in just a few minutes. The guard walked in first and waved Sam in after a few moments. Sam stepped inside and scanned the building. An old man, about 60 years old was sitting on a chair in the living room, while three people stood in his left side. "Hello adventurer, my name is Carl and I''m the village chief. I was told that you bring information from Woodchester? What is the situation over there?" "We fought a big group of zombies and annihilated them with some casualties. The problem right now is, that the monsters will keep on getting stronger and our defenses are to weak to handle them by the time that happens. In times like these we humans have to be united, that''s why I came here to inform you of the plan we have. By the way, my name is Sam. A woman of about 30 years stepped forward " You should be someone from the city right? How do we know if we can trust you? I have seen a lot in these past few days and know that i can''t trust someone easily." Sam looked at the group of three. All of them were females. ''They are all quite the beauties!'' The two females, that had not spoken until then were twins, about 20 years old and they looked really good, even though they hadn''t used any make up in the last days. The older woman had long black hair and a seductive, voluptuous body. She emitted a mature charme. The twins had slim, well trained bodies of about 1,60 height. They wore short clothes and their blonde hair was tied into ponytails. Sam looked at the woman and answered " I won''t trust anyone easily either, so I understand what you mean. Let me tell you about the plan first, you can decide afterwards, what you guys want to do. I found a damaged castle to the south-west from here. It is occupied by a small group of orcs right now but we are planning to conquer it soon. The environment over there is a lot better compared to Woodchester or your village. Stone walls are encircling a big space, where a lot of people could find houses to live. The individual strength of our villages is too small, we can easily kill zombies or goblins, but what happens when stronger monsters appear? The answer is simple. We will get slaughtered one after another!Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Chief Carl, I don''t know you, these adventurers or the villagers living here, fuck, I mean I don''t even know the people in my own village, but I know that everyone will die, if we don''t look for a safer place to live soon!!" Sam waited a few moments and continued, " I scouted the castle and spotted around 15 enemies. If both our villages send around five people we could secure it. How about you guys think about it? I wait outside." Sam finished and quickly left the building. He leaned against the wall and listened to their discussion through an open window. "What do the three of you think? You are the only adventurers in Oakhausen and the strongest fighters as well!" Carl asked the three females. "In the last few days we have seen rape,murder and cannibalism from people, who we would never have believed would do that. Outer appearance means nothing in times like this. I mean, this guy looks like a brute, with his big body and viscous eyes, but I have the feeling that he isn''t dangerous." the middle aged woman said. "What do you sisters think?" "I don''t think he looks like a brute, yes he is big and has a hardened face but I like this masculine look. I could swear he smiled at me too!!" "No he didn''t smile at you, he smiled at me!! I too think he is quite the handsome man !" the twin sisters said. "Girls...i didn''t mean his looks, what do you think about his plan? Do you trust him?" the middle aged woman said with an annoyed voice. "Linda, me and my sister trust in you abilities, you are the ninth person to reach Level 5 after all. If this Sam has ulterior motives you are strong enough to defeat him. I have the feeling this man is trustworthy and we should help with his plan." One of the twin sisters said, to which the other nodded. Sam stood outside the building with raised eyebrows. He was surprised that the woman had reached Level 5 as well. One of the twins came out and called Sam back in with a smile. The middle aged woman, Linda asked when he had entered again, " When do you plan to start the conquest?" " The best would be to attack as fast as possible. The earlier we take the castle, the earlier we can start the reparations and movement of the villagers and supplies. How about you choose you paricipants and we leave this afternoon?" The girls agreed and left to pack their stuff. Sam talked with Carl for a little bit longer, leaving afterwards. He went back to the gate, where they agreed to meet. Sam retrieved his shield and waited until a small group arrived. It were the three females, accompanied by two middle aged archers. The twins held two daggers each, while Linda held a staff. " You are a knight? I could have sworn you are a warrior." one of the sisters said and laughed. Linda looked at him curiously and asked " Where is your weapon? Don''t tell me you fight monsters with your fists?" " This shield is weapon enough for me. On this you can trust me!" They travelled towards Woodchester, deploying the two archers as scouts. They meanwhile talked about their ''past lives'' . The twins had been students with a lot of accomplishments in different sports, like volleyball, gymnastics, swimming or tennis. Linda had managed a big company, that sold make up and other beauty products. They had met at Day 0 and bunkered themselves in a mall with a big group. The people seemed to be friendly at first, but a small number soon stole all the food and after two days of endless zombie attacks and nothing to eat, the people became violent. They realized their were no laws anymore and only the strongest would survive, so they started raping and ultimately eating the weaker people. Linda had foreseen this and took the twins to escape. They hungered for two days, while overcoming their fear and fighting for their lives. They had already left the city when the announcement of the changes came. They found Oakhausen and helped them to defend against the goblins. After talking nonstop they reached Woodchester at 6 pm and met Rudolph to discuss the plan for their assault. Killing enemies A big meeting was held in Rudolphs house. Nissa, Jack, Sam, Rudolph, Jason and the three adventurers from Oakhausen were present. " The village chief of Oakhausen agreed with our opinion. He sent five capable fighters to help with the mission. We should be able to conquer the castle with five additional fighters from us. I started this whole plan, so I will be the leader." Sam concluded after telling everyone what happened in Oakhausen. Jason looked unsatisfied but didn''t say anything. " With me as the leader we need four more people." Sam said and looked in the round. " I am naturally helping out." Jack said with a smile. Nissa looked at Jack from the side and spoke " Archers should be helpful to you guys, so I am helping as well." They needed only two more people. Sam looked at Jason. "Ok ok, count me and one of my comrades in as well." Jason yawned and answered. A little glint flashed through Sam''s eyes, but no one noticed it and the meeting continued. They decided to depart the next morning, this way they could rest a proper night. Sam, Jack and Nissa showed the three females their village after the meeting. They ate a meal and slept afterwards. Early the next morning at the gate. Eight people stood there, ready to depart but were still waiting for the two remaining members. '' He keeps us waiting before an important mission like this.'' Sam was trembling from anger. '' If he dares to run away this time, I will cut his legs off!'' Five minutes later, Jason and the assassin girl showed up. " Sorry, sorry we forgot the time." Jason said with a dirty smile, while slapping the assassins ass. The girl didn''t seem to mind it, in fact her face was totally emotionless throughout the whole time. " Whatever, let''s head out!" Sam stated and left Woodchester. The others followed and together they headed south. They reached the hill and slowly climbed to the top. The situation in the castle was nearly the same but this time four of the silhouettes were walking towards the forest on the left side of the castle. Sam watched how they disappeared between the trees and turned around. " We should take the opportunity and ambush the four of them in the woods. Let''s take the long way around. Jason, his comrade and me will be the vanguard, while the archers in the back will be protected by the twins" Sam told his plan. They took a detour of about 30 minutes before they reached the forest. Their group stood at the edge discussing how to proceed when a roar made them turn around. The patrol of four orcs came charging out of the trees. " Archers, quickly focus your fire on the orcs far left and right!" Sam shouted and got into a defensive stance. The group of orcs charged at him. '' This passive skill is a bad joke! It will kill me sooner than later!'' One of the orcs fell from an arrow to the throat, the others kept charging with raised axes. Two orcs arrived in front of Sam, the last orc had changed targets halfway and ran towards the archers. It got intercepted by the twins, who continuously cut and stabbed it. An arrow through the eye ended the orcs life. Meanwhile, Sam was facing the last two orcs. One of them kicked his shield, making Sam retreat two steps. The other charged in, but Sam had expected that and took a step forward. He rammed the orc with his shield pushing it towards Jason, " Hey man, what the fuck are you doing!! Show some worth and take care of this one..don''t think about running away!" Jason cursed and raised his sword. " Bitch help out,stop looking like that and kill this motherfucker!!This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. He and the assassin started battling with the orc. Meanwhile Sam and the remaining orc were facing off. It attacked with a swing, but Sam quickly defended against the axe. He waited for a pause between the swings and fiercely kicked out when the chance arose. *Crack* His kick had shattered the orcs knee cap and it knelt down. Sam spun around and stabbed the orcs throat sideways with the help of his shield spikes. Blood gushed out like a fountain making the scene really gruesome to watch. Everyone defeated their enemies and searched their bodies afterwards. Sam found leather boots with attached steel plates, who gave him +3 in defense. He watched Jason, who finished looting an orc. He saw him taking a leather breast armor and stuffing it in his bag instead of giving it to his comrade. '' This piece of shit is the perfect example for selfishness! He doesn''t care about his comrades. His decisions will cost him his life sooner or later'' Sam thought while watching Jason. He felt anger creeping up his stomach. '' It''s not the right time. I will take care of him when the opportunity arises!'' Sam kept reminding himself. Sam looked around and spoke "Let us enter the forest and approach the castle with the help of the trees covering us. About ten orcs remain. I have the feeling that they will send some more orcs in case the other group doesn''t return. If we can ambush another small group of them the remaining orcs won''t pose a threat to us." They entered the forest after his speech and proceeded towards the castle. They scouted from between the trees and analyzed the situation. Five orcs stood on the walls, while four others made their way to a big stone house which they entered. After ten minutes, five orcs left the building and walked onto the walls. However, the newly arrived orc looked different from the others. It shouldered a massive two handed axe and wore a helmet with two extending horns on the sides. '' It looks like a cheap copy of a viking warrior but I am sure this is a boss monster. I have to look at its description when I get closer!'' Sam thought but was interrupted when Jason opened his mouth, " This axe and helmet are perfect for me, I want them! If we complete this quest these two pieces of equipment should be enough for me and my comrade. All of you can divide the rest" " We need to kill the orcs first, if everything goes well I don''t mind if you take the two pieces afterwards. You are the only one who can wield the axe after all!" Sam said with a smile while thinking something completely different. Jason looked surprised because of Sam''s attitude but still continued "Yeah, that''s right! No one of you should think about taking MY equipment!! So now that we are clear on this, how should we kill them?" "We have to fight with our lives on the line. Archers to the rear, melee fighters to the front. I don''t have time to make a plan, they already spotted us!" Sam told them and pointed at the wall. The viking orc looked at their group and shouted something to his underlings. They left the walls and arrived at the east gate, facing the forest. Sam''s group stepped forward until they reached the border of the forest. Sam could see two orcs holding bows so he instructed the archers to quickly shoot them down. "We can''t wait this time, let''s attack them right here and right now! Melee fighters, we will form a line. Make sure, that no orcs get through!!" Sam shouted and started to run. The archers stopped when they reached a distance of 30 meters and started firing their arrows. The orcs weren''t skilled in long range attacks, all of their arrows missed. After Jack and the others continuously fired their arrows the two enemy archers died. By the time they died the rest of the fighters had already started engaging in close combat. Sam was facing a normal orc and the leader while the others were fighting one orc each. Two orcs broke through their attack formation right after the impact of the two groups and charged towards the archers who concentrated their fire on them. ''Why aren''t they attacking me? Is my skill not working on them?'' Sam took a quick glance and saw arrows already peeking out of the orcs bodies. The damage of these arrows made the orcs aware of the enemy archers. A streak of lightning flashed across the battlefield. The fighting stopped for a moment and everyone looked at the two charred, shriveled corpses on the ground which had been orcs a few moments ago. Everyone''s eyes followed the marks on the ground. Sam had totally forgotten about her! Linda stood next to the archers with her raised staff. She breathed heavily but looked satisfied with the destruction her skill had brought. Sam took the chance and swiftly pierced an orc in the neck, killing it instantly. The fight commenced after that. Each melee fighter had one enemy remaining. Sam decided to check the orc leaders information quickly. ( Orc Savage - Level 5 Boss ) "Jack, you have to kill the orc I am facing. You have to kill a boss monster to reach Level 5 and this one is a boss." Sam spoke through the teamspeak. Shortly after an arrow hit the orc savages shoulder. It got furious because of Sam''s unbreakable defense and the arrow that hit it, so it slashed out with its axe and slammed Sam aside. Sam collided with Jason who fought next to him and both of them fell to the ground. Jason lay on top of Sam and tried to get off instantly but he was held in place. Sam gripped his leather armor at the chest area tight, so that Jason couldn''t move away. Sam coldly smiled and whispered " You piece of shit are going to die here. People like you don''t deserve to live. Your character is simply trash, that''s why disposing of you is the best for all of us, especially me! Have fun in hell!" Sam felt a little impact in the next moment "Aaaaaah" The orc Jason had fought before didn''t wait for the two humans to get up. It approached from behind and plunged his axe in Jason''s back. Sam rolled aside quickly, before Jason could fall on top of him. The orc kicked the screaming Jason, rolling him on his back. " Fucking bitch!!SAVE MEEE!!!!" but the assassin girl, had already been hacked into pieces by an orc. '' Maybe if you had given her some equipment she would be here to help you right now.'' Sam thought while he stood up. He watched how the orc cut off both of Jasons legs, only then did he kill the orc from behind. Jason cried and screamed in pain while slowly bleeding out. Everyone had killed their opponents, even the orc savage was killed by Jack. All of the people watched Jason struggling on the ground but they were all clear that he would die. He stopped moving a bit later. The rest of the group rested for a few moments and gathered the equipment from the corpses, afterwards they entered their new castle. Moving in The castle was really spacious and completely built out of black stones. The keep was undamaged right in the center of the castle. Stone buildings were surrounding it on all sides. On the back, facing the mountain Sam''s group could see mines and a quarry. The houses inside the walls, which could be used right now numbered around 200. All of them needed little reparations which could be finished in a few days. Around 500 other buildings had accumulated more damage and had to be repaired or rebuilt before they could use them. The surrounding walls were breached in three places, the rest was intact. Two big watchtowers were placed on the corners of the castle left and right of the north gate. " This castle is exactly what I hoped for. The people of the two villages aren''t nearly enough to fill half of it. The most important problems are easy to fix, damn we can even mine stones and probably steel in our backyard!" Sam spoke out what he was thinking. The others nodded with happy faces. " How about we return to Oakhausen, to inform Carl about the news? We should start moving the villagers, supplies and everything else soon as well. We can''t let a city like this be standing here unoccupied for too long." Linda came over and spoke. " Yeah you are right. How about this, all of you return and tell Carl and Rudolph what happened. They should organize the first batch of people and sent them over here. I will guard this position until the first villagers arrive." Sam proposed and the others nodded in agreement. They left shortly afterwards, this way the first batch of people would most likely arrive by evening. Sam wandered through the city. He looked inside a few buildings but didn''t find anything interesting, so he decided to look inside the keep. He entered through a partially damaged gate and climbed some stairs before he reached the throne room. The ''throne'' was simply a big block of black stone, carved into the rough form of a chair. Even though it looked simple, the air around it seemed somehow ''majestic''. Sam stepped closer until he stood directly in front of it. '' It doesn''t look like it from afar , but it is easily three meters tall! That is a throne for a true ruler.'' Sam thought, while looking at the throne. After looking through the keep Sam returned to the wall standing on guard. At late afternoon two groups of around 20 people arrived. These were the first batches of people from Oakhausen and Woodchester. Sam saw Jack leading the people together with Nissa. The villagers were elated to see the castle. Sam stood on top of the gate and spoke " This castle is our new home. A lot of buildings don''t need to be repaired, you can choose which one you like. Some of them already have space for shops on the ground floor, please leave them for the people who want to open a store in the future. Please remember, the people of Woodchester and Oakhausen live here together from now on, everyone is the same without any prejudices. We have to be united in these dangerous times. Most likely a lot more people will arrive from the surrounding villages the next days, so please welcome them warmly, they are in the same situation we are in, after all!" The people nodded in understanding and walked through the gate. All of them found a building to live in and started to move in. Sam occupied the kings bedroom in the keep to sleep for the night. Early the next morning Sam returned to Woodchester to organize the next batch of people. The villagers loaded two carts with necessities and left their former homes. Meanwhile, Linda took a group of their villagers and lead them to the castle. They arrived at the same time as Sam and his people. " We have to repair the walls as fast as possible! This city is our new home, to repair the defenses is the most important thing to do at the moment. Could all the stone cutters present come over here?" Sam stood in front of the villagers giving orders. Eight stone cutters came forward. They were all men of different ages, but everyone of them had a muscular body with strong arms and wide shoulders. They picked 15 volunteers to help fixing the damaged parts of the wall. After Sam had explained where to start the stone cutters and helpers left. He met with Jack afterwards. " Now that we have time, tell me what class and skill you got!" Sam smiled when he talked to Jack.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Both of them had already known each other before the game started, but after fighting and surviving together their relationship changed from acquaintances and colleagues to comrades and brothers in arms. Sam was like a big brother In Jacks opinion, that''s why Jack did whatever he could to help his friend. " I already wanted to tell you yesterday, but after all what happened we had more urgent matters to take care of. My class changed into '' sharpshooter '', that means I can shoot enemies a long distance away, in exchange my rate of shooting slowed down. I tested it yesterday and noticed that I can hit targets from 100 meters away, while only missing one out of ten arrows. My skill is called ( longshot) and it let''s me fire an arrow for more than 250 meters with a 90% chance to hit the target. Improving this skill, furthers the distance I can shoot and decreases the cool down time, which is four hours right now." " I think this skill will become really op if you can use it more often and shoot further, especially in defense battles!" Sam told him his opinion. " I sent a few scouts out earlier, so that they can monitor the surroundings and warn us if necessary. Could you return to Woodchester and help to get another group of villagers here? You can take Nissa with you, I know what''s going on between the two of you!" Sam smiled mischievously. " O- Ok " Jack stuttered with a bashful face. " Tell me Sam, what is you plan for the future? I mean, what are your goals? Establishing this new city and living a peaceful life here, until you die?" he quickly changed the topic. " I want to rebuild this city first, so that we and the future members of our guild have at least one safe place in this new, monster filled world. My main goal is to lead the strongest guild of this planet! At the time we become the strongest on this planet, we can start enjoying our lives! We need to strengthen this city and find new people to join us in order to reach these goals. What do you think about Linda and the twins? I think they are good and trustworthy people, furthermore we are already living in the same city. I want to ask them if they want to join us. NPC''s can join as well, let''s add Nissa into our ranks as well!" Sam proposed. Jack smiled and nodded. " I talked to them during the mission. Linda seems strong and intelligent. The twins are easy to get along with. Also, their movements during fights are incredible! These two should be able to reach Level 5 without any problems, as long as they find a boss monster. They kept on asking me a bunch of questions about you as well! I think they are probably interested in you, Hahahaha." " That''s good! This increases the odds of them joining us a lot." Sam laughed and left to search for the three females. Sam knew that they lived together in one house, only a few buildings away from the keep. It was around 9 am when Sam knocked on their door. It swung open shortly afterwards. One of the twins in the doorstep while she chewed on some bread. " Sam! What a surprise, what are you doing here? Don''t tell me...you want to take me out on a date?" "WHAT?? NO WAY!!!" the other sister screamed and arrived in front of Sam. " You are looking for me right? You were mistaking her for me, that happens all the time!" the twins started bickering, until Linda stopped them. She looked at Sam and said " Please come in first, let''s talk inside. Are you hungry? " Sam shook his head, followed Linda into the living room and sat down at the table. The others took their seats too, staring at Sam. " *cough*... well, I came to visit you because I wanted to invite you. I don''t know if you guys already have a guild, but Jack and created one and agreed to only invite people we can totally trust. I know you for only a few days, however I fought together with you guys and saw the way you care about each other. I think you are good people, who can be trusted and Jack thinks the same, so I came today to invite you into our guild ''Nightwatch'' !" The twins looked surprised but waited for Linda to speak first. Linda looked at Sam for a long time, then asked " Tell me Sam, why did you hold the bald player, whereby he got hacked down and died during the fight yesterday? I need to know what reasons you had to do something like this." Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise when Linda started talking because he thought nobody had noticed his actions back then. '' I don''t have anything to hide, I will tell them everything and gain their trust.'' Sam started to retell his and Jason''s past before continuing " He was a piece of trash, only thinking about himself, who passively killed his comrade by retaining all of the equipment and using it only for himself. I learned, that 99% of the people only think about themselves. Their comrades mean nothing to them and they will simply forsake their "comrades" in times of life and death. I will be frank with you, I will kill every single person who tries to harm me or even worse, my comrades." Sam''s eyes became cold. " I believe that you guys saw what happens to people when the law stops working! I on the other hand treat my comrades like family, which I would never harm and protect at all costs!" The females looked at each other. They remembered every single moment of their time in the mall, especially the last moment before they left. The people weren''t zombies, but some of them started attacking and eating children and women in more terrifying ways, compared to the zombies. " My plan is to rebuild this city and establish our guild as the only one here. We can take part in the management of the city and castle and work towards the future. We can house a lot more people in this city, we only have to find and persuade them, to join us. With more people the walls and buildings could be rebuilt much faster and we could start farming and training soldiers. The options we have are infinite! I won''t rush you, think about it and give me an answer if you are ready." "No need for that!", " Yeah, as long as Linda agrees the both of us would be happy to join you!" both of the twins said with big smiles. Linda opened her mouth a minute later and said " I don''t need time to think about it too, I decide to trust you,so don''t betray my and especially their expectations!" Linda pointed at the twins. " I promise you, I won''t let you down! Then let me tell you about our plans for the upcoming days." Another horde The following three days were used to move all of the necessities and people from the villages to the new city. Meanwhile the stone cutters repaired the walls. After three days only one big hole remained in the stone wall. Sam spoke with Nissa and Jack at some point and told them to train a group of younger people into archers. Nissa took them out, to hunt weak monsters or animals. Jack took care of the target practices. On the fourth day, after they conquered the castle, Sam stood on the walls, watching the north side waiting for the last batch of people from Woodchester. After some time he could see a group of people walking down the hill in a hurry. They were chased by a big group of zombies numbering at least 200. Sam ran down the stairs and arrived in front of the gate. He ordered Nissa to pick up the archers and take position on the walls. He instructed four burly men to wait for the group to pass the gates before immediately closing it. Sam himself went to the remaining part of the wall that was still damaged. Linda, as well as Nina and Anna, the twins were there too. Sam arrived and shouted " Stonecutters and helpers, get away from the wall, an attack is coming. I will take position right in the breach, this way the zombies won''t be able to get past me. Nina and Anna, you both will stand left and right beside me to help out, while Linda will be the backup. We have to kill these zombies before we can finish repairing the wall!" He saw the last batch passing the gates and arriving inside the city. The archers started shooting when the horde got near the gate. Most of the arrows hit, unfortunately only a few of these were head shots. The zombies crashed in the gate but weren''t able to breach through, so they started to slowly surround the city. When the first zombie approached Sam he focused on it. (Decaying Zombie Level 5) This whole group of zombies was decaying, making them look and smell horrible. The females besides Sam took deep breaths with horrified and disgusted faces. The zombie saw Sam and immediately started to attack him.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. " We have to kill them quickly, they are walking along the wall in a linear formation. This is a huge advantage for us, because this way we can deal with one zombie at a time. If it takes us too long another one will arrive and further delay us." The zombie rammed into Sam who got pushed back. After he added some more step backwards the twins arrived on the left and right of the zombie. They stabbed forward and impaled its head at the same time. Sam asked two men to carry the corpse away, so it wouldn''t distract them while fighting. They killed another five zombies in the same way until one of the assassins daggers broke. "Nina, go to the blacksmith, tell him what is happening and that you need two daggers, one for you and one for your sister." Sam told Nina. She left and Sam resumed fighting. After he killed the 12th zombie he leveled up to Level 6. Three zombies appeared together at one moment but Linda killed them with her lightning spell. Nina returned afterwards, pulling a big tower shield behind her. " The blacksmith told me to give this to you. He said this might help you." Sam took the shield and held it in his left hand. With about 1,6 meters this shield could completely protect Sam if he ducked a bit. Wielding his spiked shield in the right hand he repositioned himself one meter behind the broken wall. When the next zombie came Sam pushed it with the tower shield, quickly stabbing its head with the spiked shield afterwards. '' This makes fighting so much easier. Oh I see two of them coming. Let me see if I can defend against both at the same time.'' Sam thought and hid behind the shield. The two zombies pushed against him, but his defense stats and new shield stopped him from retreating more than two steps. Sam realized that he could defend against them but at the same time was unable to kill one of them before the other could attack him. The two assassins appeared and took out one zombie each. This whole process continued until Sam scouted a different enemy. ( Decaying Monstrosity Level 5 Boss) "Nina, Anna, I will lure this one in, then you kill it together. It''s a boss monster, so be careful. Meanwhile I will defend the breach alone. The enemy who stepped inside the city was a massive, moving mass of rotting flesh. It was at least 3,5 meters tall and looked like a gigantic fat blob. It moved slowly after the retreating Sam. When they had entered for around five meters the twins appeared and started to attack the blobs massive legs with their new daggers. Sam took care of the incoming zombies, while Linda got sure that the twins weren''t injured during the fight. Sam looked back after some time only to see the ground littered with blood and chunks of flesh. The zombies legs had been cut off piece by piece until it had to kneel down. The sisters were approaching the zombie from two different sides at this moment. They stabbed forward and impaled the zombies massive head from two different sides. Both of them hit at the exact same moment. " I leveled up!!" x2 Both of them got a Level up, by killing the zombie at the same time. They ran to Linda embracing her with big smiles. They talked a bit and returned to Sams sides. " Congrats you two! So what classes did you get?" Sam asked while defending against a zombie with ease. "We are " twin assassins", meaning that we can switch positions with each other inside a certain distance. We can change once every hour right now but it will be shorter when leveled up!" Blackstone City Sam was really surprised. ''This skill is interesting. The ways it can be used are innumerable. I''d like to see them using it.'' Nina and Anna were still looking at Sam with expectant eyes. " Wow, this skill is awesome. Both of you got a really good class and skill!" Sam thought they were waiting for an answer. The twins were unexpectedly happy with his answer and hugged his arms from both sides. " Thank you, with this skill and class advancement, we will be more useful in the future!" " You can depend on us more from now on!" Both of them said. " Ok, let''s talk about this later, the next zombie is coming." Sam proposed and got back into position to defend the breached wall. The fighting continued for another two hours, before all of the zombies were killed. Only 50 of them died from arrows, while the rest was annihilated by Sam and the twins. The archers went out to retrieve the arrows after the surroundings were safe again. Sam told the stonecutters and helpers to burn the corpses and to continue repairing afterwards. Sam himself went back to the blacksmith, who had moved into a house with a big forge on the ground floor. When he entered the shop the smith was in the middle of putting his weapons and armors into the shelves. " Hello there, we defeated the zombies, so I came to give you back the tower shield. Thanks a lot, it was a big help!" The blacksmith looked deeply into Sams eyes " You can have it. I appreciate your help in defending this city and the villagers who live here. A lot of us would have died if you weren''t there to defend the breach. You were the one who helped us to find a new, safe home as well as the one who keeps on defending us. We don''t have a leader right now, but in my opinion, you should be the new king of this city! We need someone strong, who cares about the citizens and you seem to be this person. If you need something in the future please let me know. If you bring me the materials I can forge you new armor or weapons when you need them!" Sam answered " Hahaha, you think so? Well, I don''t think we need a king right now but when the times for a king come we have a lot of suitable candidates to take this position." Sam said good bye and left the store to do some other business. Three days passed quickly without any more attacks, only a few refugees arrived from time to time. Sam spoke with all of them to understand what was happening outside of the city walls. Some told him that a massive horde of more than 1000 zombies had attacked their village. A few of them had noticed the attack early on and had been able to flee, while the rest had been trapped inside the villages wooden walls. Another group of refugees had been attacked by orcs and goblins. These survivors had seen, how the orcs had killed and raped their families and friends.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Sam concluded after listening " It seems the monsters get more aggressive. I get the feeling all of this is planned by god. These villages were like the beginner villages in most RPG''s. The ''players'' had a few days to reach them and build some relationships before the next catastrophe appeared. I bet that there are many different castles and cities throughout the world that have to be conquered, in order to live on. What will be the next phase of this ''game'' ?'' Two weeks after they had conquered the city, around 400 people lived inside the walls. A lot of refugees had arrived and after a few days integrated themselves. Some of them resumed their jobs as carpenters, stonecutters or farmers, while others started to train as soldiers. At one point, the newcomers asked about the leader of the city and while some called Rudolph or Carl the leader, most saw Sam as the real leader and commander of the city. Sam organized a meeting for all the citizens on the 15th day, asking them for opinions regarding the city name. A big discussion started but ended quickly when Jack asked for Sams opinion. " I like the name Blackstone City! The black stones make this city and the keep so eye catching I think this name suits this place the most." The others agreed after a few more minutes of discussion. When Sam wanted to end the meeting Rudolph stepped forward. " A lot of people keep asking who our leader is...I believe it is time for us to choose the one to lead us!" They held a simple election, the nominees were Rudolph, Carl, Sam, Nissa and Linda. Sam became the new leader with a big majority of the votes. Most people knew how strong he was and how much he had done for all of them. After his election Sam quickly started to give some orders. He showed the stonecutters which buildings to repair next and organized hunting squads together with Jack and Nissa. He met with Nina and Anna and gave them a mission to scout out the surrounding areas. Linda trained three girls who seemed to have some talent in magic and could be the next potential mages of this city. '' We don''t have enough ''players'' that''s why we have to train NPC''s. It would be awesome to gain a few more experienced players, but where do I find them?'' One player had joined them in the last days. He was 23 years old, 1,80 meters tall and had a athletic figure. His name was Kain and he had long hair in a ponytail and a big beard, covering the lower half of his face.He wielded a bastard sword. Sam conversed with him more than with the others. That was because Sam didn''t trust him and wanted to hear his story with as much details as possible. The guy had lived in a village even before the Game started. On this day 95% of the villagers turned into zombies. He had been the only one to escape unscathed. After surviving in the forest for many days he had found Blackstone city. Sam discussed with the other members of ''Nightwatch'' and they agreed to add Kain into their guild. Surprisingly Kain was already Level 5. His class was ''Wandering Swordsman'' and his skill was an area attack, where he smashed his sword on the ground creating a shockwave, which would send the enemies flying. Sam called his council, consisting of the remaining nominees from the election. He had enough of staying in the city. He distributed the work and told his council that he would leave for an exploration. He decided to take Kain with him to look at his abilities and get to know him better. Before he left Sam stopped by the blacksmith. He had asked him to make a belt or something, so he could strap the tower shield onto his back. It was too inconvenient to hold the heavy shield all the time. Sam and Kain met at the east gate and started their journey. They traversed the forest, occasionally killing decaying zombies. The first thing they saw when they left the forest was a lake and a few simple tents besides it. Around 20 small goblins were walking around the tents searching for something. Sam and Kain sneaked through the high grass, silently approaching the little camp. They stopped around 20 meters away. They could hear the goblins speaking, in English!!! " These humans are dumb. Sleeping outside. Now they dead HAHAHA!" "GAGAGAGA" "HAHAHAHA" They laughed with ugly, rough voices while chopping some human corpses into pieces. A big pot was placed on a fire, which was used to cook meat. Four human heads lay besides the fire, these were the people who fell victim to the goblins. Kains breathing intensified and his eyes radiated a strong killing intent. " Let us kill these fucking monsters! They keep on killing every human being they see, we have to stop this!" " Yeah you are right but let''s make a plan fi-" Sam said but Kain had already charged at the goblins with his drawn sword Journey to the east The goblins noticed Kain charging at them. Their group teamed up and formed a defensive line. They drew clubs and primitive axes made of wood and bones taunting the lone soldier who picked a fight with them. Sam immediately started to stealthily walk around the goblins. He saw how Kain arrived in front of the enemies waving his greatsword. The goblins tried to evade but their defensive position obstructed their movement. One goblin was too late and got decapitated by one swing of Kains sword. Blood spewed out of the goblins neck while its head flew through the air. When Kain severed the upper and lower body of the next goblin the rest of the enemies got scared and started to fall back. The sight of one of their comrades getting cut in half was too gruesome. The goblin was still alive trying to crawl behind its comrades while the intestines were slowly falling out of its body. The goblins fell back step by step when Sam appeared from behind. He smashed two goblins to the side stabbing a third goblins head with his spiked shield. The goblins panicked and started to run away when suddenly five new goblins appeared from inside one of the tents. One of them seemed to be the leader, wearing armor made of bones. He roared at his underlings and stopped them from running away. Sam and Kain kept on attacking the goblins, brutally slaughtering them. Sam defended with his tower shield, killing his enemies with counterattacks from his spiked shield. Kain kept on slashing his sword with nothing but power. He didn''t use any skills or swordsmanship, Kain simply slashed and hacked with enormous strengh, breaking weapons and armor. The goblins couldn''t defend against the team of Sam and Kain and even the leader goblin got killed after a few seconds. The group of 20 goblins got totally annihilated in no more than five minutes. Sam went over to Kain. He stood in front of him and punched his face as hard as he could. Kain fell down and Sam knelt over him, while looking with cold eyes. " I will only say it once, you do what I say! If you attack again without waiting for my commands I will let you die or kill you myself. You are really strong but these 20 goblins would have killed you if I hadn''t been here to help you out. Don''t misunderstand me, I want to kill these fuckers as much as you, but I also want to survive! Keep that in mind and wait for me to figure something out when we meet the next enemies. Do you understand that?" Kain listened to Sams speech,while looking into his cold eyes. Sam helped him up after he nodded in response.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. " Come on, lets collect everything valuable and hide it in the woods. We will take these things with us when we return." They looked through the goblin corpses and surroundings. Sam opened the tent the leader had come out from. The scene inside was horrible. The corpse of an around 20 year old woman lay on the ground. Her hands had been tied and her clothes were ripped to pieces. "Looking at the fluids between her legs and her position, she must have been raped!" Sam said with fury. Her throat had been cut and her empty eyes looked at the tents ceiling. Deep cuts and bitemarks littered her whole body. Kain came over and witnessed the scene. His face became red and he started shivering because of rage. Sam and Kain collected all the items and hid them inside a hollow tree. They resumed their journey afterwards. " I hope these things don''t happen everywhere. I don''t want to see this sick stuff all of the time." Sam talked while walking. Kain had been silent ever since their last battle. He had the feeling that Sam could kill him whenever he wanted to, so he listened to Sams commands. The punch from Sam had nearly broken his jaw! They saw a few more little camps, some of them were splattered with blood, while others had been given up. They kept on walking east, sometimes engaging with zombies or goblins. When the evening approached they reached a big hill. After climbing it they looked in a huge valley. Sam saw fields, where farmers did their work and a city right in the middle. " Humans! This city is only around six hours away from Blackstone city. Let''s go! We will scout out this city and learn as much as we can about the people controlling it. We are wandering people looking for a new home, if they ask us." Sam told Kain. They climbed down the hill approaching the city. The farmers looked healthy and well fed while they worked on the field. '' It seems like they aren''t treated badly.'' The group of two approached the gate until they were stopped. Two guards holding shields and spears looked at them with cautious eyes. One of them asked " Who are you? Where are you coming from? What is your purpose?" Sam stepped forward telling them his made up story. The guards weren''t convinced and sent someone to get a superior. Sam and Kain waited in silence until five people arrived. Two women and three men. All of them were around 30 having average looks. The tallest of them, a 2m big man wearing heavy armor and a bandana approached Sam. " You guys are players right? Where did you come from? Did Ivan sent you to infiltrate our city? " The big man asked with hostility. Sam was flabbergasted because of his tone but answered in a calm voice. " Yes we are players but we don''t know an Ivan. We were wandering around, fighting and surviving, while looking for a new home to stay in. We luckily found this city and approached in hope of being accepted." The newly arrived group of people inspected Sam and Kain from head to toe while listening to Sam. " Your story is complete bullshit! How could you survive in the wilderness for so long looking healthy and energetic like that. This fucker Ivan sent you to to infiltrate our city and murder us. Kill them and sent their corpses back!" The big guy, his companions and the guards readied their weapons. Sam looked still calm when he raised his hands. " Ok you got me, my story was made up. We are actually a scout unit from a city six hours away from here. It''s called Blackstone city and we simply wanted to find out what sort of people you are! We don''t have ill intentions and by the way the farmers over there look, you guys aren''t bad people either. You seem to have problems with someone but if you kill us right now the soldiers of our city will come to look for us over here and you will have another enemy! How about this? Tell us about this Ivan and what kind of person he is. I will talk to our leaders and try to convince them to help you!" The group of people looked at each other with hesitant expressions. " I don''t really know what to do right now, so let me tell you about Ivan Olev first." The big guy sheathed his sword and started narrating. Ivan Olev Ivan was a russian mercenary who had formerly worked for the speznas/ russian elite combat unit. Half of his face had been burnt during war, additionally to his tall frame of 2,1 meters he looked quite frightening. He and some fellow mercenaries had established a guild and took over a city, where they brought villagers forcefully afterwards. They forced players to join them as well by threatening their lifes. They made sure no one leveled up to Level 5 while they continuously trained their own strength. This way they could make sure no one would rebel and attack them. " They treat their people like slaves. The women get raped on a daily basis! His core group includes ten Level 5 players and Ivan who is already Level 7! They are too strong for us, we survived until now only because of the walls surrounding us." One of the women said. The big man continued " This man is a real devil, from killing innocent people to raping children, this guy does everything. One of their farmers escaped when he worked outside the city. He luckily made his way into our city and told us about life and the cruel methods used in ''Blood Haven'' , that''s what they call their city." The group of five players continued with other facts and Sam kept listening. He thought about it and started to talk " Your situation is troubling, sooner or later Ivan and his men will find a way into your city. If you fight them face to face the five of you will surely die! They will force your people under their banner and overtake this city. They will surely knock at our door in the future, causing trouble for us too. I think we only have one choice and that is to fight together! You can''t fight them alone, our people can''t fight them alone as well. We should stand a chance if we combine our forces, what do you guys think?" The other players looked at each other and started to discuss. The leader spoke afterwards " I will give you two options because I believe in what you said. You can either leave right now and we will all go our separate ways, or you stay here for one day, while a scout of us takes a look at your city to prove what you said right. If the scout verifies your story you are free to go and we can talk about an alliance! But if we can''t find the city you are talking we will assume you are spies and you will be killed!" Sam and Kain looked at each other before Sam nodded and went inside the city together with the others. He gave the scout simple directions to Blackstone city before following the five people together with Kain. The big guy, who introduced himself as Bobo offered to show them the city, which they thankfully accepted.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Bobo said " If you guys lied to me you will die anyways, but if what you said is the truth I don''t have to show you around anymore." Bobo told them about the past of his group and how they conquered the city. They lead the city together dividing the work and helping out wherever they could. Bobo and his friends were all older than 30, they wanted to live peaceful after the last weeks that had ruined their ordinary life''s. They weren''t training to get stronger, instead they focused on the economy of their new city, to ensure their future survival. The three men had leveled to Level 5 only because they met three boss monsters until they conquered the city. One woman was Level 4 the other Level 3. They had two Level 5 NPC''s, one of them the scout from earlier who had received the ''Night Vision'' skill. All in all they thought the walls would protect them from danger, that''s why they concentrated more on economy and less on their military strength. Sam listened to everything Bobo said while thinking '' They were to naive, thinking that they wouldn''t run in some enemy who could threaten them. We concentrated on multiple things after we had conquered the city, the most important our military strength.'' After they were done sight seeing Bobo took Sam and Kain to a small stone building. It had no windows and only one door, which was quarded by four guards, who made sure the two of them didn''t flee. Two beds had been arranged and placed inside the house. Sam and Kain ate a previously prepared meal and slept thereafter. They got woken up early the next morning and were brought into a large building. Sam had noticed the day before that this city didn''t have a keep, just a big meeting hall in the city center. Around ten people waited inside, the five players, the scout and four other people. They looked at Sam and Kain when they entered. Bobo stood up with a big smile " I knew you guys were telling the truth! Our scout found your Blackstone City after following your directions. Our council discussed and decided to send someone with you, so he can witness what''s going on inside the walls and if you people are trustworthy!" Sam had expected this and said " No problem with that, who wants to come with us?" "Hahahahaha, who else than me,Bobo! I was the first to trust you, I want to meet your leaders and see what the situation is in your city." Sam smiled and left together with Kain and Bobo after some more discussions. When they left the city Sam said " Guys let''s take a little detour, I want to explore a bit more of the surroundings. It''s still early, I think we have plenty of time!" The other two nodded and so they took a different route back to Blackstone city. The first enemies they met were a group of zombies. It were 30 of them walking over the plains. Their group of three ran into different directions dividing the zombie group. They hit and ran all over the plains, killing the zombies. At some point Sam saved Bobos life. Sam had stabbed a zombie, trying to attack Bobo from behind with a shield throw. Bobo thanked him and continued to hack the enemies into pieces with his greatsword. After they killed another group of goblins Sam reached Level 7. Bobo was quite experienced in fights but after seeing Sam he said " I have to say your fighting style is really unique! Fighting with two shields, one for defense and one for offense looks interesting. Also that shield throw earlier looked like you practice it a lot. But I don''t really understand why you use no weapons like swords or the like even though you are a knight class. Sam smiled but didn''t answer. They entered a big forest next. It was silent, no bird or insect noises, only silence. They continued for 30 minutes until they could hear the first sounds inside the forest since entering. A loud cracking noise could be heard. It didn''t sound like a branch but more like a tree breaking. Similar sounds echoed through the forest coming closer to Sam''s group. Sam signaled his comrades to crouch behind a tree while he looked ahead, waiting for the thing breaking the trees to come into sight. Level 10 Boss A massive figure entered Sam''s line of sight. Around 4 meters tall and 3 meters wide, a gigantic human like creature approached them. It had two legs, two arms, a torso and the head. Everything except the head looked more or less like body parts of a human, but the head resembled that of a pig. All in all this creature looked disgusting. Spit and other fluids constantly dripped from the creatures open mouth onto his fat belly. When it saw Sam it grunted and moved towards him. A club, as big as Sam was swung and continuously destroyed the surrounding trees. Sam focused on the monster ( Oger- Level 10 Boss ) !!! " Fuck, it is a Level 10 boss! We have to flee or it will turn us into pools of blood with a swing of its club." Sam shouted and started to run in the direction they had come from. Kain and Bobo quickly followed. Their group were chased for ten minutes while the distance between them and the oger shortened non stop. The monster lashed out with his club pulverizing a tree next to the group of three. Wood fragments filled the air cutting the players faces and unprotected body parts. A big piece of wood slammed Kain and Bobo aside knocking them unconscious. Sam stopped and turned around when he saw that. '' The oger targets me because of my skill, I don''t have to worry about him attacking Kain and Bobo. It is too fast for me to run away from and if I hide it might kill Kain and Bobo! What should I do? I have to think about something or I will surely die!'' Sam was trying to plan an escape, while looking at his companions. The oger stood in front of him and swiped his club sideways a few moments later. Sam readied his tower shield and pressed his feet into the ground. He put all his weight against the shield however, Sam felt like a train had hit his shield, his bones creaked and the shield deformed while Sam was lifted of the ground flying through the forest. He got slammed into a tree 20 meters away slipping to the ground. His vision grew hazy and he nearly lost consciousness but came back to his senses hearing the oger approaching him. Sam slowly stood up placing his tower shield in front of him. '' I almost died from the impact just now. I am lucky my bones didn''t break but it will be my end if I get hit one more time! '' Sam sprang aside evading the club within a hairs breadth.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The oger who had wanted to squash Sam into a pulp with an overhead swing only hit the ground. Sam came to his feet after evading the attack and went for a counterattack. He stabbed the ogers legs two times and retreated again. The oger roared and charged. Sam evaded again but got hit by wood fragments when the oger hit a tree next to him. Sam felt his face getting hit numerous times and blood was continuously flowing into his left eye to the point where Sam had to close it. He hid himself in some bushes near the oger and pulled the wood pieces out of his face. He felt himself slowly getting frustrated and angered. He couldn''t feel the pain of his wounds because of the adrenaline and slowly awakening berserker mode. Meanwhile, the oger turned around and searched for Sam with his ugly, tiny pig eyes. When it turned its back towards Sam he used the opportunity and charged. He successfully stabbed the oger three times but got slapped away in the process, flying through the air again. He landed on the ground in a better shape compared to the first hit. The slap of the hand wasn''t as strong as the club, so Sam could cope with it. Sam used the same strategy again but he had underestimated the oger. It wasn''t as dumb as it looked like, so it listened for sounds of Sam''s armor and turned around kicking Sam when it heard the rattling sound of his chainmail. Sam was able to place his spiked shield between himself and the ogers foot but the power behind the kick was too great. He felt one of his ribs breaking because of the impact. He flew through the air like a cannonball hitting a tree. Sam sat on the ground, back against the tree while his head was hanging down. He coughed up blood, while having trouble to breath. The oger made its way towards him dragging the club behind it. Sam''s breathing intensified when he saw the elated expression on the ugly pig face. The drool coming out of it''s mouth intensified as well. '' I won''t die here!'' Sam could feel himself slowly losing control of his body but he didn''t reject that feeling. " I don''t have a choice anymore. Let me see if I can beat the oger and what happens if I succeed!" Sam said before his eyes turned red. He stood up, lifting the two shields as if the fight before never happened. He charged at the oger, who lifted the club for the final attack. Sam changed direction, evading the blow. He jumped onto the club when the monster lifted it and propelled himself near the ogers chest. He stabbed but didn''t hit the heart, landing back on the ground. The monster roared again, but more because it couldn''t catch Sam and less because of the damage it had received. Another kick sent Sam flying again but his abilities improved in berserker mode and he was able to backflip and land on his feet. Sam roared and did something unexpected in the next moment. He threw his tower shield, aiming for the ogers knee cap. A crunching sound confirmed the hit and the oger knelt down while screaming. Sam ran around the kneeling monster attacking it''s back. He smiled while stabbing the oger again and again. The boss monster couldn''t reach Sam behind him and fell to his hands after being stabbed continuously for more than 50 times. The part of the back where Sam had raged was a mess. It was a big bloody wound, the meat had been skewered and hung out of the wound. Sam who had been bathed in blood, walked over the ogers body reaching the neck. He lifted his shield and stabbed the neck numerous times. The oger died and fell down while Sam turned back to normal, only to witness the world turning dark. Coming home " Congratulations Sam! You didn''t let me down. You are the first one to kill a Level 10 boss, furthermore you killed it without any help! I will tell you what happens now. First of all you directly reach Level 10 for killing the Level 10 boss. Additionally you get one of the skills/characteristics of the monster you killed because you did it completely alone. Sometimes it''s an active skill, sometimes a passive one. It won''t be as effective as the one from the boss, but because it is a skill you will be able to reach the monsters level after upgrading it. You might even be able to exceed the original skill! The ogers special trait is it''s '' Herculean Strength'' which you gained from it. The skill at the beginner level gives you two times your normal strength, think about it yourself how much this skill will improve your power in the future! It is a passive skill that is activated the whole time what means that it also improves constantly. I thought about another reward to give you after the entertaining fights you showed me, so let me spoiler you a few things that will change with the next patch! The cities you humans lived at before the game started will change into different styled dungeons, for example a giant dome, massive castles, underground mazes and so on. You should also know that there are various factions right now, like bad players, good players, monsters and NPC''s. A lot of them own castles, cities or other sorts of settlements and have different mind sets. I don''t want to see all of the participants in this game hiding inside their walls and living boring lives, so I will include a reward system. Random quests or situations will appear in the future. The way these events will be settled directly affects the rewards you''ll get. It might be weapons, items, materials, technologies or even new people/soldiers for your city. Killing monsters or other players will give you rewards too. This way the game will become more exciting Hahahah! Players killing other players for rewards, I am looking forward to that. I think that''s it for now, prepare yourself and your people for the future events, don''t disappoint me!" Sam wanted to ask something, but he was already back before he realized it. He stood on the ogers back looking down at its shredded neck. " Wow, I realized what I was doing but couldn''t do anything against it. These wounds are really devastating." Sam jumped down and walked over to Kain and Bobo. Their injuries didn''t look too bad. Bobo had hit his head bleeding a little bit, while Kain had injured his arm. They had no broken bones or internal injuries. They woke up looking dumbfounded at the dead Level 10 boss.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Sam told them, how he had killed it and that he had leveled up to Level 10 in the process. He didn''t mention his new skill, or the spoilers he got from god. '' I will keep the skill a secret for now. The patch will come soon anyways, it would look suspicious if I tell them what god will change in the next days. I don''t want to be called an apostle or something like that!'' Sam thought while telling the others what had happened. The group of three departed afterwards. They walked slowly not to attract any attention. Sam''s body hurt like hell, after the boss fight. Kain and Bobo weren''t in good conditions either. They made a few stops on the way back and took detours to bypass groups of monsters. They reached Blackstone City at afternoon. Sam greeted the guards and went towards the keep with his companions. He instructed a guard to call the council members for a meeting. He told Bobo a few things about the city while they made their way to the keep. Half an hour later inside the keep, Sam stood in front of Rudolph, Carl, Nissa, Jack, Linda, the twins and Bobo. Kain went to the doctor to check his arm. "...that''s how it is. We have to decide if we want to help them, or if we wait and hope that Ivan and his group don''t find us. I personally think we should help them and free the people of this guys clutches!" Sam looked at everyone inside the room. Bobo was silently observing the people and their facial expressions. Carl the former village chief stood up and said " From what you said earlier I think this Ivan is a cruel man who has to be stopped, but they are more than six hours away from Blackstone City. They won''t find us so easily! We should wait and build up our military and defenses to be prepared for when they come." Nissa listened to Carl and said " The problem with your plan is, that their group gets stronger everyday. They force more people to fight for them every passing day. I think we should attack them as quick as possible. We can include their people into our cities after we annihilate Ivan and his men." Some others gave their opinion too, until Linda stood up and said " Sam you are the chosen leader of Blackstone City, you are the one to make the final decision!" Sam looked at the perplexed Bobo with a smile. " I said it before, we will help you! If we wait until they grow stronger we won''t stand a chance anymore, but right now with the capable fighters of our cities we should be able to win!" Sam looked at the other people, saying " Actually, I already reached Level 10! I encountered a Level 10 boss monster and killed in, which resulted in an immediate Level up. I should be the strongest player right now or at least the one with the highest level." The other people were stunned. No one thought that Sam could reach Level 10 in one and a half days. The meeting continued for one hour, thereafter everyone left to do their business. Sam organized a house for Bobo but didn''t order guards to look after him. Sam went to the keep. The council had furnished the keep when Sam had left and a few maids and guards had been prepared as well. Sam took a bath inside the keeps bathroom. Everything was made of stone making the atmosphere inside quite cold but Sam didn''t mind and relaxed while thinking about the upcoming patch. '' This patch will give us opportunities to strengthen ourselves and Blackstone City. We need more people but that also means that we need more food. I have to make sure we have a good squad of hunters who can provide a stable income of food. The pelts and leather are useful as well. I have to send out more scouts as well. We need more boss monsters to get more of our people on Level 5!'' Sam got out of the bathtub wearing a bathrobe one of the maids prepared beforehand. He ate a light meal, he didn''t want to eat too much when they had no stable food income. He went to his bedroom afterwards. It was an extravagant room decorated in the colors white and red. An enormous bed of 4x4m stood directly in the middle of the room. The only other furniture was a big desk and a wardrobe. Sam shook his head " This is too crazy...who the hell needs a bed like that? Well I am a king now, right? Let me enjoy it for now, who knows what will happen tomorrow!" Sam took his clothes of and lay down in his king size bed falling asleep instantly. The next mission Sam woke up at 9 am feeling refreshed. He went out to fetch Bobo and show him the city. The Blacksmith Arthur had already opened a shop in the business street. He was the only blacksmith what made him get a lot of requests. A medicine store and a tailor had opened buisness as well. The city slowly started to awaken again. A few street stalls were selling skewers, fruits and vegetables. After a few hours of showing Bobo everything they returned to the gate. "Thank you for the tour ''King Sam'' Hahahaha, but I need to return now. I''m afraid Ivan tries to attack us!" Bobo said in front of the gate. " I understand that, if it is okay I would like to send Kain with you. He can contact me via teamchat if something happens on your side, this way we can send immediate reinforcements." Sam had spoken with Kain beforehand, telling him his plan. Bobo accepted. He was grateful he didn''t have to travel alone. The two of them left afterwards. Sam went back to visit Arthur. "Hey Arthur how is it going? You look quite busy." " Good that you are here. I have to tell you, I''m unable to complete all the orders in time! I am a former village blacksmith, I don''t really have experience in forging weapons. All the weapons I forged until now are beginner class weapons! I could take an apprentice but it will take a long time to teach him only the basics. We need to find a solution, I am more suited for making small things the workers and farmers need." " I understand. I will find a way to solve that problem. I want to go out for a bit, do you have a simple shield I could lend? The tower shield got wrecked in the last fight." Arthur gave him a round steel shield, which Sam gratefully accepted. He left the city afterwards. He went alone because he wanted to test the power of his new skill. He walked in the direction of Woodchester looking for enemies to kill. A small group of four zombies were the first monsters he met. They were rotting badly. Maggots could be seen all over their bodies, many areas already showed the bones between the decaying flesh. Sam felt nauseous but steeled himself and charged at the group consisting of Level 6 zombies. It took him only a few moments to smash their heads. " I need some stronger enemies to test my strength!" Sam said to himself. He continued until he reached Woodchester. It was totally empty, not even zombies were roaming the streets. Sam looked into a few buildings but found nothing useful. He decided to visit Oakhausen. When he got near the village he spotted an orc scout. Sam hid inside a bush, breaking a branch on purpose to lure the scout over. The orc readied his spear and walked towards the bushes while observing the surroundings. When he was two meters away from him, Sam jumped forward and attacked the orc. The orc reacted quickly and crossed the spear in front of its chest. Sam slammed his spiked shield forwards trying to stab the enemies heart.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The spear shattered in the next moment and Sam successfully killed the scout with ease. '' Ok, this proves that my attack really improves with the skill. I didn''t even use my full power! That means I can use my accumulated stat points for defense, health and stamina. I can use a few points for speed as well and won''t need to increase my attack for now!'' Sam had allocated a few points into attack before his fight against the Level 10 boss. After he had examined the strength of his new skill he decided to ignore his attack stat for a while and spend the accumulated 18 points into other stats. '' Let me think. My class needs way more health and defense, six points into defense and five points into health. Leaves me with seven points...three into speed, three into stamina and one point into accuracy, I am quite curious about this stat.'' '' stat points allocated'' the familiar message appeared. Sam felt much better after boosting his stats and decided to scout out the situation at Oakhausen. He found a small hill, which he climbed up. The situation inside the walls could be seen from the top. Around 15 orcs were inside Oakhausen but they looked different compared to the last ones Sam had seen. They wore some pieces of steel armor each and held steel swords or longbows. ''They have some good equipment, I bet their leader is a boss monster. I should return to Blackstone and organize a squad to exterminate these orcs.'' Sam knew he wouldn''t be able to kill these orcs all on his own, besides he wanted to let someone else reach Level 10 when a boss monster really was their leader. Sam returned immediately arriving in Blackstone city at 2 pm. He called a meeting for all the high leveled players and NPC''s asking them for their Levels. It turned out all the members of ''Nightwatch'' had already reached Level 7 thanks to the shared experience, while a lot of NPC''s were at Level 5. Jack said " Most of us fought several times in the last days. There are usually a few groups of zombies or goblins attacking Blackstone city. Our archers are leveling really well. We would probably have more people on Level 5 if we had found more bosses." " I tried to train the mage apprentices but couldn''t do it. I miss something to teach them a spell. I would like to spend my time fighting and building up experience at this rate. Maybe we can find somebody who can teach mages in the future." Linda spoke truthfully. Sam nodded, thinking '' This will most likely be fixed in the next patch. We have to get our hands on a magic teacher, having a group of mages defend this city would be very reassuring!'' He said " I took a look at Oakhausen before I came back, it is used by a group of orcs as a base. They look different from the orcs we fought before. They wear good armor and weapons and I''m sure that the one who leads them is a Level 10 boss! I want to exterminate them and hopefully give one of you the chance to reach Level 10. I saw around 15 orcs but there might be more inside the buildings. I want to go early tomorrow morning, who wants to join? We need at least five people." Anna lifted her hand " I and Nina will join you!" Linda joined as well. Sam looked at the others waiting for another person to join. The Level 5 people looked uncomfortable joining a mission against good equipped orcs. Nissa and Jack whispered a few moments before Jack spoke up. " I will come with you too. Nissa will stay here and take care of the defenses." Sam nodded in agreement. A lot of strong fighters would leave tomorrow, he felt reassured knowing Nissa handled the defense of Blackstone. " Ok then it is decided. We will meet up in front of the north gate at 4 am tomorrow morning. Go to sleep early and check your equipment!" Sam ended the meeting. After the others had left Sam walked inside the throne room. He looked at the big black throne. Even though he had been king for a while he never sat on the throne, so Sam approached it and sat down. The stone was hard and cold but Sam felt comfortable sitting on it. He thought about the upcoming patch and what to do next. '' I hope we can get more citizens. If we can clear Oakhausen tomorrow I would like to resettle it and Woodchester therefore increasing our realm. With the people we have right now we would divide our forces too much. With monsters like Ivan in the vicinity I am afraid they might attack and capture our settlements one at a time. We need another Level 10 player to stabilize our position! I will focus on the mission tomorrow first. The problem with Ivan and his group comes afterwards. How will the patch affect this whole situation?'' Sam kept pondering during his bath and dinner until he fell asleep in his king size bed. Insta-twins Sam woke up at 3 am, ate a light breakfast and went to the north gate. He arrived at 3:50, only to see his four companions already waiting for him. He greeted the others " Good morning, let''s immediately set out!" Sam inspected the equipment of his companions while traveling. The twins wore new equipment, mostly leather armor, some parts reinforced with steel. Lina carried a new staff, Jack still wore his old equipment. Sam lead his group directly to the hill next to Oakhausen so that they could take a look themselves. 15 to 20 orcs roamed in the few streets of the village. " We have to stealthily enter the village and silently kill these orcs one after the other. We can''t attack them head on." Sam said. " Two guards are standing at the gate and one orc archer keeps watch on a platform above the gate. Anna and Nina, I want you two to dispose of the two guards in front of the gate. Jack you shoot the archer with your skill. Wait for the twins to arrive before you shoot, so that you don''t alarm the two orcs below the archer." The twins and Jack started to move and get into position. Jack knocked an arrow when he reached a suitable distance and aimed for the enemy archer. Anna and Nina sneaked through the bushes approaching the guards from left and right. When they were two meters away they charged out of the cover, rapidly approaching the confused orcs. They slipped under their arms arriving at their backs. They kicked to the back of the orcs knees, slicing their throats after they knelt down. Both of the orcs died silently drowning in their own blood. Sam looked shocked when he saw that scene. '' They actually used the same movements at the exact same time. They are a frightening combo.'' Jack had also used the moment the twins had appeared and fired his arrow, penetrating the archers right eye, making him fall over the railing. He landed on one of the already dead orcs. Sam went over dragging two orcs in the bushes a few meters away from the gate. Jack took the remaining one. No one noticed that Sam had no problems dragging two heavy orcs away, one in each hand. Sam and Jack returned looking inside the village with the rest of the group. Four orcs sat besides the gate, playing some sort of game. Sam couldn''t see any more enemies from his position. He turned around and whispered " We have to kill these four orcs quickly. I don''t see other orcs right now but they might be inside the buildings ready to attack if someone alarms them. Three orcs are already missing, four of we include the scout I killed yesterday. This will be noticed soon, so we have to take the chance and kill this group as quick as possible! You stay in the back and do nothing for now, Linda. Your spells are too loud and important, let''s save them for an emergency. The rest of us will take on one enemy each. I will leave my shields with you Linda and fight with my hands. I am too slow and loud with the shields, I will leave them here to increase my speed." The others looked at Sam with skeptical eyes, but no one voiced their doubts of him fighting without a weapon. They trusted him to the point they didn''t ask for explanations all the time. After explaining everything Sam began the charge. Anna and Nina ran past him, taking the lead. Jack ran until he was 30 meters away from the orcs and aimed at the one wearing a quiver on his waist. He loosened his fingers sending the arrow on its way. It hit the throat of the archer who opened his eyes trying to catch a breath before slowly bleeding out. The remaining orcs stood up turning into the human groups direction. Two of the orcs only got the chance to open their eyes and try to scream before two daggers entered their mouths, stabbing through the back of their heads.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The twins had instantly killed two opponents again! Sam arrived in front of the remaining orc, who wielded a steel sword. ( Orc Marauder Level 9 ) Sam focused on his opponent blending out his environment. When the orc started to lift his sword and open his mouth Sam began his attack as well. He swiftly grabbed the hand holding the sword while swinging a punch right into the orcs face. His actions looked normal but the power he used was much stronger than the orc had expected. The punch made the orc shut his mouth and take a step back, but his arm was still held by Sam. Sam punched another two times before slamming the orc into the ground. He took the steel sword and slowly pressed it into the orcs neck. A cruel smile appeared on Sam''s face for a moment, before quickly disappearing again. Sam stood up looking at his comrades. " Level 10 is really something, to think you could kill an orc on your own, only using its own weapon." Jack exclaimed. Linda nodded on the side. " Sooo strong!! " " Woooow you are awesome Sam!!" The twins hugged Sam''s arms while smiling at him. Sam smiled at the sisters patting their heads after they had let go of his arms. " We don''t have time for that right now. Let''s move over to that building first. We can rest for a bit and wait for another patrol to arrive." Sam told them and walked towards a small wooden house. It was empty inside, so they sat down on the ground resting for a few minutes. They could hear sounds approaching after a while. Sam looked through a gap to see what was going on. Six orcs approached, two of them holding longbows and three of them holding spears. The last one wore a steel breastplate and held a short sword in each hand. ( Orc Fighter Level 10 Boss ) !!! '' It''s the boss!'' Sam turned around and hurriedly whispered " The boss has arrived, we have to kill him right now. No need to be silent anymore. We dispose of them quickly, let one of you reach Level 10 and escape through the gate before the rest of their group arrives here!" Sam quickly made up a plan before leaving the building together with his group. They were only 30 meters away from the orcs who were looking at the corpses of their fallen comrades. Linda quickly formulated a spell, shooting a lightning bolt wit a loud noise. Two orcs lay on the floor immediately afterwards. They were charred black and trembling on the ground until they finally died. The orc boss reacted and ordered his underlings to attack. The leader itself charged at Linda but was intercepted by Sam who was holding his shields again. Jack needed two arrows until he hit the heart of one orc who only had a spear to defend himself. The twins fought against two spear wielding orcs but couldn''t get an advantage. They as assassins were dependent on the element of surprise, in a head to head fight they had to search for an opening and avoid getting hit, especially when facing powerful opponents like orcs. Sam spoke through the guild chat. " I will bash him away from me in a moment, Linda and Jack, you two attack him together, whoever hits the finishing blow gets to level up!" Linda and Jack nodded with tense expressions. Sam, who had used his two shield to defend against the two short swords until now, pushed the orc leader in a moment between two of his strikes and gained a distance of three meters. Sam took another step back, when an arrow and something resembling a spear made of lightning passed him. Both attacks hit the unguarded face of the boss monster. The head exploded because of the spell and shortly after Linda wore a happy smile. She had killed the monster and reached Level 10. Jack looked disappointed for a moment but clasped Linda''s hand afterwards congratulating her. He knew he would get another chance and that Level 10 was only the beginning. Sam helped Anna and Nina to kill the two remaining orcs. Their group could hear trampling coming from afar and decided to retreat first. They ran into a forest outside the village and found a place to rest for a minute. Jack asked Sam " What do you want to do now? Clear this village or return to Blackstone city for now?" Sam thought for a bit and wanted to answer when the world turned dark. '' It seems the day of the patch has arrived!'' Patch 1.1 ''Patch 1.1 Hey guys, it''s god again. First of all, congratulations to the people who are still alive, hahaha! This game gets more and more enjoyable for me. I will add a few more fun things with this patch. First of is one of the most important things in RPG''s. Who can guess what I mean?...Nobody? Ok, then let me tell you. The first thing I add this time is the adventurer guild!!! A branch of the adventurer guild will open in every human settlement, regardless of NPC or player city. Humans can register as adventurers as long as they are Level 5 or above. No fees have to be paid. New adventurers start at the D rank and can be promoted after a set amount of guild points is earned. The ranks are D, C, B, A, and S. Guild points are earned through absolving quests. The points you earn depend on the level of difficulty the quest is rated. Adventurers are only allowed to accept quests at most one rank higher than their own adventurer rank. For example a rank D adventurer is allowed to accept rank D and rank C quests anything higher isn''t allowed! You don''t have to worry, everything I change will be seen by the NPC''s as a matter of fact. They won''t question the changes I make in my own game! The next new things will be random events as well as a reward system. These both go hand in hand, the random events might be a special type of NPC, or a whole group of NPC villagers getting chased by monsters. You can decide if you help them, or let them die...there may be a third choice? The way you solve these problems affects the reward you will get. You could take them in and add a group of citizens or experienced workers like blacksmiths, teachers or spies into your city. A good merchant who sells rare goods would be a big advantage for your city. Another choice would be to kill and loot them or sell them to another city not supporting your city. This brings me to the next point. Guild headquarters Most of the guilds were able to secure a city and start to populate it. These cities will be your headquarters/ hometowns. Your guilds will be connected to these cities meaning that special quests, like a massive defense battle or an invasion might occur. Maybe something like this will happen soon?This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The officially established city leaders/ kings/ queens will get a new menu especially for managing their cities. It will include statistics, like food produced, food consumed, taxes paid, population and so on. They also have a menu for items or units, that can be bought wit reward points. I mentioned the reward system before,guilds, smaller groups and individuals can earn reward points by doing quests or other missions. They can use these reward points to get different things from their king, like equipment or even NPC fighters they can add into their guild. A small percentage of the reward points given by the adventurers belongs to the king and can be used how he sees fit. The city generates a certain amount of reward points each day too, depending on the economy and functionality of the city. The results after a monster invasion will generate a good amount of points as well. If you kill a lot of monsters and/or kill them in a short amount of time, you will earn a lot of points for your king. Guilds who already govern a city have a big advantage, because they have the menu and decide what gets bought with the reward points. This also includes NPC and even some intelligent monsters. As long as they are city leaders, they get the menu and can spend reward points for many different things. You can increase your factions territory by conquering small villages, ruins, watchtowers and even big cities, which will also earn you reward points. These places can be repaired and used again to increase your territories and stabilize your power. If a king gets defeated, the city and additional conqueredplaces go over into the winners possession. I won''t intervene during times of war, the best should be the winner! Regarding the reward points, you can get them for quests and hidden quests, as well as through conquering cities, dungeons and smaller places or killing monsters and players/ NPC''s who are at least Level 5. Finally the cities you lived at before this game. They don''t exist anymore, because I transformed them into various types of dungeons. Castles, mountains, domes or caves, every dungeon will be different, including size, monsters, traps and items you can get. A boss monster will be waiting at the end. Also, the first group to clear a dungeon and kill the boss will get an additional reward! If you ask what happened to the people inside the cities, they all died a few days after the first patch. Some were eaten, some died because they had nothing to eat. I announced before, that everyone should leave before the patch, but unexpectedly a lot of players tried to stay and hide. Questions about the adventurers, or functions of the guild can be asked in the adventurer guild at your city. I added a new part in your guild menus, giving a few more informations about your guild headquarter and reward points. If you want to see what happened to your former hometowns, go and look yourself, a lot of you are growing fast and should be able to explore their first dungeon soon! Look out for monsters, NPC''s or other players who want to take your city and strive to increase your own power. Let me give you another piece of advise. Look out for people with the same intentions as you and build some alliances. You people don''t know what your enemies will do, there is no problem with alliances or wars between the guilds, on the contrary, this would be pure entertainment! I am hoping for multiple big kingdoms on this earth to fight each other in the future until only one supreme ruler remains! But until that happens I hope you will entertain me more Hahahah, have fun guys!'' Ja reclaiming Oakhausen The world turned back to normal, Sam and his group were still sitting inside the forest next to Oakhausen. Sam''s group looked confused. They needed a few seconds before they remembered why they were at this place. "These changes are awesome!" " Yeah! Reward points seem cool!" The twins exclaimed. Linda said " Right, also Sam is not only our guild leader but also the king of Blackstone city! He has the city menu!" Jack, Linda and the twins looked at Sam, urging him with their eyes to try out the menu. " I am curious as well, let me try it out." Sam concentrated and a red screen appeared in front of his eyes. The others couldn''t see it. The first category were the stats. The income, outcome, production of reward points and economical areas like taxes, amount of food or birth rate. A massive amount of statistics could be seen but Sam wasn''t really interested. The second category was population. Sam could check the exact number of blacksmiths, stonecutters, farmers and so on. The military was also included, as well as the players. It was showing the people in the city right at this moment, which meant that he and his group weren''t listed at this moment. The third category was facilities. It showed the amount of shops opened and what products they were selling. It included defensive buildings like towers and traps, guild buildings and even outside territories like villages, towers or mines. One of the icons was blinking. Sam tapped it and it showed a new window. ( Woodchester cleared ) Sam could already see information regarding Woodchester which meant he could resettle it and include it into his territories. Oakhausen couldn''t be found in the menu. It was obviously not cleared yet. Sam returned to the main menu and looked at the last category. Reward Shop! He wanted to open it but a notice popped up. ( Reward Shop can only be used inside hometown or claimed villages! ) Sam felt frustrated but didn''t think about it anymore after he saw the indicator in the top right corner of the city menu. ( Reward points: 20 )If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ... " Okay guys I checked it. It''s like this, we already cleared and reclaimed Woodchester. I think we should clear Oakhausen and reclaim it too. It will increase our territory and population! There should be seven to eight orcs left, if we can separate them they shouldn''t pose a threat to us. What do you think?" Sam asked the group. All of them nodded with smiles on their faces and determination in their eyes. They could reclaim cities and villages which meant that they might be able to live a somewhat normal live again, without fighting on the frontline anymore. They rested for a few more minutes and sneaked back to the gate afterwards. Sam looked inside the village, right into an orcs eyes. '' Fuck!! '' The orcs had instantly spotted him and ran over to attack. Sam turned to his comrades " I am the only melee fighter, get into the forest and wait for me to lure these orcs over, go now!!" The others were much faster than Sam and quickly entered the forest. The group of orcs chased after Sam, slowly closing in on him. He entered the forest and the orcs followed. After 50 meters one of the orcs was able to grab Sam at the neck from behind but the orc got pierced by an arrow through the face immediately afterwards. The orcs stopped after seeing their comrade dying. In the next moment a lightning spear flew by and pierced one orc through the chest. Sam fought one orc as well while watching the twins fighting. Each one of them suddenly appeared behind their enemies piercing their necks. Meanwhile one orc had approached the unaware Anna from behind. Nina witnessed that and activated her skill. She changed positions with her sister immediately turning around. Her dagger stabbed into the orcs eye killing it on the spot. '' This skill is definitely overpowered! They will be fearful opponents when they can use this skill more often.'' Sam thought after witnessing the skill for the first time. He had already killed his opponent with a stab through the neck. They took all the equipment before slowly walking back to Oakhausen. Sam looked through the gate again but didn''t see anything. They cautiously walked inside. Sam got an idea and opened the city menu. He tapped the blinking icon ( Oakhausen cleared ) Sam looked at the number indicating his reward points, 100 points! '' It seems we got 80 points for killing the orcs and clearing Oakhausen. I should be able to take a look at the shop now right!? '' Sam entered the menu and chose the shop category. The screen changed, showing everything he could buy while he was inside this village. He saw villagers and farmers, also different professions like blacksmiths and the townwatch unit. He looked at the info for the blacksmith. '' It is as I thought, the blacksmith is a low leveled one, only able to do simple works required for village works. I bet the blacksmiths I can buy for Blackstone city are more proficient. I have to check that when I am back home. Well then, I have 100 points, should I invest them in one of the villages or in Blackstone city?'' While Sam thought about that the others had gathered all the equipment. Sam picked the steel breastplate the orc boss had worn and immediately wore it. He felt the increased weight but he also felt a lot safer wearing this sort of heavy armor. It actually gave additional eight points to defense! The others picked some equipment as well changing it with their own. They brought the remaining equipment inside a house hiding it in a little back room. They sat outside taking a break. They drank some water and discussed about the patch when Sam stood up and looked at them. He asked " I have 100 reward points right now, I can use them to spawn some NPC''s to live here or I use them for something in Blackstone, what do you guys think I should do?" D rank adventurer Linda was the first to answer. " Don''t use them yet! How about we ask Rudolph, Carl and their people if they want to return to their former villages. Like this you only have to worry about the defenses of these territories and not the whole population. " Sam nodded " Yeah I didn''t think about that. You are right, let''s go to Blackstone first. We have to hurry up, I don''t want to leave the two villages without guards. We don''t know how many factions have their cities nearby. We could lose the villages if other factions or monsters decide to occupy them!" Sam and his group left Oakhausen after ending their discussion. They killed a few monsters while heading to Blackstone city. They arrived in the afternoon heading straight towards the keep. Sam ordered a guard to call the rest of his council over. Half an hour later Sam, his group, Rudolph, Carl and Nissa sat inside the conference room of the keep. " That''s how it is. We cleared Woodchester and Oakhausen and can occupy them again. Rudolph, Carl, I want to know what the both of you think. Would you like to go back to your former villages or not and what do you think the other people of these villages want to do?" Sam asked the two former village chiefs for their opinion. " I would love to return to Woodchester but for that to happen we need more soldiers and experienced fighters to protect the villages! " Rudolph said, to which Carl nodded. Sam listened to Rudolph while thinking. '' We don''t have enough men, especially capable fighters. I have to check the shop menu and see what sorts of units I can buy!'' Sam opened the city menu clicking the shop icon. A list with different categories like units, items, buildings and so on appeared. Sam choose the units and the window refreshed showing Sam the military units he could buy. He found the archer. The price for a Level 1 archer was 5 reward points, a Level 2 cost 10 reward points. The highest leveled archer he could buy was Level 5 for 25 reward points. All of were able to level up after training and fighting. '' Maybe if the city grows the units I can buy will be stronger?'' Sam found warriors, assassins, knights and mages, as well as simple city guards. Their prices were more or less the same as the price for an archer. He had a lot of choices and many more were still blurry meaning that he could unlock different types in the future. Sam closed the menu again and looked at his council. He turned towards Nissa and asked her " How are our archers doing? Tell me about their numbers and levels." " We have 50 archers right now, ten at Level 1, 15 at Level 2, 15 at Level 3, five at Level 4 and another five at Level 5. Our archers are getting stronger day by day, but the problem is the rest of our army! We have nearly no close combat fighters and most of the ones we have are city guards. We need more soldiers or we won''t be able to occupy two villages! " Nissa answered.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Sam thought for a few moments before asking Rudolph and Carl about the economic situation. Carl coughed and started to speak " We have around 950 people living in Blackstone city right now. Half of them are women and children. Around 70 are military personnel while the rest are mostly farmers and workers. We started to mine for steel and prepared to extend the walls. We made a plan to build another defensive wall around the town. The space we win inside this stone walls could be used for living quarters and production facilities. The biggest problem right now is the food! It''s already august, with this amount of people we won''t have enough to eat during the winter!" Sam worriedly opened the shop menu again. He found the category resources. After a bit of searching he heaved a sigh of relief. He had found different sorts of grains as well as meat. He could buy ten kg of meat for two reward points. '' I won''t be able to feed a whole city with this small amount of reward points, I have to think of a way to increase them...that''s it! '' Sam smiled and asked Nissa and the former village chiefs. " Tell me, did the adventurer guild open a branch here while we were gone?" " Yes, how did you know? They appeared a few hours ago and described us their buisness. We gave them a suitable building and they have most likely already moved in. " Rudolph answered him. " I will take a look, register myself and check out the quests!" Sam ended the meeting and the people left one by one. At the end only Sam and the smiling twins were left. " Hey Sam, can we come with you? We want to become adventurers too! " Anna asked while she hugged his arm. Sam looked at the two beautiful women with a smile. " Sure, why not? Let''s go together then." Sam walked out of the keep followed by the twins. They were halfway to the adventurers guild when each of the twins suddenly grabbed one of Sam''s hands. Sam panicked. He had never encountered a situation like that in his life. He had no girlfriend before and his only sex experience had been a middle aged whore one of his colleagues had " gifted " him when he was dead drunk. In a situation where beautiful twins were holding his hands and smiling at him his mind went blank. Anna and Nina who saw him dumbfounded giggled, holding his hands even tighter. They walked through the buisness street until they reached a big stone building with a wooden gate. A sign above the gate read ( Blackstone City Adventurers Guild ). The twins let go of his hands before they entered the guild building. Sam wiped his sweaty hands at his pants while his fast beating heart slowed down again. They entered the building. It was almost empty. Two people who looked like archers were having a drink. At the counter sat a young girl around 16 years old. She smiled at Sam and the twins and said " Welcome in the adventurers guild! Do you want to register yourselves and become adventurers?" " Yes! The three of us would like to sign up." Sam answered. They only needed to tell their names and classes. After that they dripped a bit of blood on a crystal which verified that they were above Level 5. Each one of them got a copper medal engraved with their names and classes. The copper medal classified them as D rank adventurers. " Where can we look at the available quests? " Nina asked the girl. " Follow me I will show you the quest board. " They followed the girl to a big board where some pieces of paper were attached to. " The quests are described on these sheets, the guild rank is written on the top right corner. If you want to accept a quest take the sheet and bring it to the counter. Some quests can be done solo, some need a group. There may also be quests that need 50 or more people! You will increase your guild rank and earn reward points or money when you complete quests!" The twins were already looking through the available quests when Sam got a call through the guild chat. " Hey Sam, it''s me Kain. The situation over here gets worse. Ivan wants to take over this city. A messenger came a few moments ago and declared that Ivan will attack tomorrow morning. He became more aggressive after the patch. Bobo and his group are discussing what to do right now. Do you want me to convey a message to them?" massacre ''I''d like to know what Bobo and his people are going to do about this situation.'' Sam thought after listening to Kain. " Let them end their discussion first. We will talk again afterwards." Sam answered. He took the twins and left the adventurer guild without choosing a quest. He send the twins to get the council members to the keep again. An hour later they sat in the conference room one more time. " Sorry to call you all again. I know that I am the king and that I should make the decisions, but this is an important decision to make for all of us! Ivan will attack Bobo and his group tomorrow morning. I as the king want to help them but I am also clear about our military situation right now. Ivan''s group is strong whereas Bobo and his people are too weak. If we want to help them we have to send a majority of our forces which would leave Blackstone city defenseless. I want to ask them to join us, what do you think?" At this moment " Sam, it''s me Kain " Sam heard Kain through the guild chat " Bobo is standing next to me right now. He wants to know if you have an idea regarding their situation." " Tell him that they can join us and live in Blackstone city if they want to!" Sam looked through the round while saying that. Most of the people nodded, only Rudolph and Carl seemed to disagree with Sam''s decision. Carl hastily stood up and said " You should ask them how many people they have and wether they still have food. We don''t have many empty houses left after all! " " We are around 500 people, 50 of us are capable of fighting even though 35 of them are only Level 1 and 2. We have a few rations left but to be honest it won''t be enough to last for the rest of the year. " Kain told Bobo''s response word for word. Carl wanted to speak out his concerns but Sam interrupted him and declared " We are all humans and you all know what is happening outside the walls. I won''t let them die or ending up enslaved and under Ivans command. This is the first time I use my authority as the king therefore we will accept Bobo and his people. We will find a way to solve the food problem, we don''t even have enough food for our own people right now! Accepting them will give us a lot of benefits as well. We will be able to resettle Woodchester and Oakhausen with their people. These villages are the only settlements between Blackstone and the city. Now that the cities became dungeons I think we won''t have to fear attacks from this direction. Monsters shouldn''t leave the dungeons, that''s how it usually works in RPG''s. Blackstone city is between the villages and Ivan''s group, they won''t be able to sneak attack the villages except they take a long detour. This will be a risky move, but I want to send 100-120 people in each village, another 10-15 combatants will protect the villages for the time being. This way Blackstone will generate more reward points. These can be used to buy food or necessary items and ultimately help us survive."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Sam didn''t look at his council this time. He invited Bobo and his people and advised him to start moving immediately. He ended the meeting and brought a few people to prepare temporary places for the newcomers to live. When they were finished preparing, four hours had already passed since Sam talked to Kain. Sam instructed some people to welcome Bobo''s group and took a nap. After one hour Kain called again. " Sam we are in big trouble. We are currently next to the lake we passed before. A horde of 50 goblins and two ogers are chasing us! We need reinforcements, the people are getting massacred right now!" Kain shouted through the guild chat. Sam could hear the panic in Kains voice. '' Fuck!! I didnt think about the possibility of monsters attacking them! I have to hurry!!'' Sam immediately grouped up Jack, Linda, Nissa and the twins and left the city southwards together with them. They needed 45 minutes until they reached the lake. A few people ran past them from time to time while screaming hysterically. When they arrived a horrifying scene appeared in front of their eyes. Two massive ogers stood in the middle of a screaming and yelling crowd. One oger held a Roman looking shield and the other wielded a giant two handed sword, even though the oger only needed one hand. The ground around them was littered with multiple corpses or badly hurt people screaming in agony. Civilians without any sort of armor were like ants in the ogers eyes. Both of them were Level 10 bosses therefore even the combatants of Bobo''s group were no opponents for them. Small goblins were slowly killing the crippled survivors. Sam''s group had unconsciously stopped when they saw the massacre but after Sam witnessed Bobo laying on the ground with squashed legs crying for help, they started to move again. They were around 300 meters away from Bobo, when a goblin approched him. The goblin took out a simple dagger while crouching next to Bobo. In the next moment it slowly stabbed Bobo''s stomach. It laughed and continued stabbing and looking at the screaming Bobo struggling on the ground. The goblin finally sliced his throat licking the blood from its dagger. Sam saw all of this. He had liked Bobo as a honest fellow who wanted to help his people survive. Sam had already planned to invite him into ''Nightwatch'' after they made it to Blackstone, but these thoughts were gone after witnessing Bobo''s death. Sam was so furious he felt himself going into berserker mode. He quickly spoke " All of you kill these two ogers. Linda, make sure you don''t hit the final blow! I will take care of the goblins! " Sam ran off before anyone could say something. He felt his rage rising with every step he took. He smashed the first goblins head with his steel shield before throwing it at the next goblin. The shield hit its head killing the goblin immediately. Sam ran to the next enemy lifting it with his now free left hand. He looked inside the goblins eyes. It was the one who had tortured Bobo before. A cruel smile appeared on Sams face. He started to stab the goblins legs continuously. This lasted until another goblin tried to help its comrade. Sam broke the neck he still held in his hand throwing the goblin away. He turned towards the newcomer and charged. The goblin flew to the ground after a viscous kick from Sam. Before it could stand up again Sam had already crushed its head under his foot. Meanwhile, the others were fighting the two ogers. Jack and Anissa distracted one of them while Linda and the twins attacked the other one. Linda shot her lightning spell which heavily burned the ogers right leg. The twins attacked the left leg in succession, skewering it until the bones were visible. The oger finally knelt down. The twins jumped and attacked the head from both sides. Unfortunately their attacks weren''t enough and the oger slapped Nina, slamming her to the ground. Linda threw a lightning spear at the oger before running towards the unconscious Nina. chaotic battle Anna was shocked after seeing Nina being brutally smacked aside. She watched Linda carrying her away from the front lines then concentrated on the oger again. It held the Roman shield protecting its left side while slowly approaching Anna. Sam had totally entered the berserker mode. His eyes had turned blood red and a ruthless smile could be seen on his face. '' Kill these little bastards! I will them all!! '' Sam only thought about annihilating the goblins. He arrived behind the next goblin grabbing its head. He used the spikes of his shield to repeatedly stab its neck until the body slumped to the ground. However, Sam still held the head in his left hand. Blood was still flowing out of the neck but Sam didn''t mind and threw the head away with a cruel smile. The remaining goblins started to back off after seeing Sam, who was drenched in goblin blood, slaughtering their brothers. On the other side the ogers weren''t faced and continued fighting without pause. Jack and Nissa kept shooting arrows to distract the sword wielding oger from killing the civilians who were fleeing for their lives. Jack had been able to hit one of the ogers eyes while Nissa shot its left calf multiple times. The oger limped and the shaft of an arrow stuck out of its closed right eye. It chased after Jack and Nissa to get its revenge for the injuries. They slowly lead it away from the rest of the monsters. Meanwhile, Anna faced the second oger alone. She jumped around while evading the ogers strikes. To fight an enemy much bigger and stronger than oneself without a surprise attack was really hard when played the assassin class because one hit could mean your death. Same was true for Anna. She wore leather armor with some steel parts, which wasn''t nearly enough to survive a hit of an oger unscathed. Linda was protecting the still unconscious Nina from a few approaching goblins but she looked worn out from continuously using her spells. Two goblins were closing in on her and Nina with drawn weapons. Sam who had never stopped killing goblins appeared behind the two who tried to attack Linda. He stabbed the first one through the back lifting the still struggling goblin off the ground and kicking it away. The second one turned around only to see Sams hand approaching. *Crack* Sam had broken the second goblins neck before it had the time to do anything. " Thanks Sam, that was close! " Linda thanked him but Sam had already started to chase his next victims without reacting to her. This situation lasted for another ten minutes. The place looked like a battlefield. Corpses filled the surroundings and the stench of blood and feces wafted through the air. More than 200 humans had died from the surprise attack. Jack, Nissa and the second oger had disappeared at some point. Sam killed the last goblin by ripping its head off before he turned towards Anna and the oger holding the shield. Anna looked towards Sam but froze when she saw his appearance.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He was covered in crimson blood from head to toe. His eyes had turned into the same color. Anna could see him smiling coldly at the oger before he charged from the left side. He stabbed forward but got intercepted by the ogers shield. Without pause Sam attacked the ogers left side, continuously hitting the Roman shield. Anna also used the opportunity and stabbed the right knee of the oger a few times. " ROOOAAR! " the oger became furious after dealing with attacks from two sides and wildly swung its shield in a circular motion. The raging Sam didn''t try to evade and was sent flying for ten meters before hitting the ground. Anna got hit as well but was able to reduce the damage by jumping away from the approaching shield. Sam was unconscious and Anna had a wounded leg which caused her to lose most of her mobility. She stood up with difficulty only to see the oger ignoring her. It actually looked at the unmoving Sam ready to charge at him. Linda used her last power to throw another lightning spear at the ogers back. She lost consciousness shortly after because of exhaustion. This move had changed the ogers attention from Sam to Linda and Nina. It walked towards them and stopped one meter away from where they lay. The oger stretched out its left hand to grab Linda, at this moment Anna activated her skill and changed her position with Ninas. She used her uninjured leg and pushed herself forward in between the ogers legs. She then used both her hands and all her power to stab the dagger upwards. "WAAAAAAAHH" the oger let out a horrifying scream when the dagger pierced its crotch. Anna rolled away before the oger fell to its knees holding its genitals. She approched from behind and stabbed its back and legs. When the oger rolled to the side to evade Anna''s attacks she stabbed its throat twice and stepped a few meter backwards. She saw a stream of blood flowing through the holes in the ogers neck and finally sat down. She had no power left to fight and simply made sure that her enemy would bleed out. Her sister and comrades were unconscious or had disappeared, only she and the struggling oger were left surrounded by dozens of mutilated corpses. After five minutes the oger stopped moving and a red screen appeared in front of Anna. She finally lost consciousness as well. When Sam woke up the first thing he saw was the ogers corpse. Sam felt exhausted but lifted himself up and looked around. He remembered how he had slain the goblins and attacked the oger but he couldn''t remember what had happened afterwards. He saw Linda who didn''t seem to be hurt. Nina lay a bit away from her, still injured, so Sam walked up to her first to check her condition. He knelt besides her and checked her pulse. Nina opened her eyes when Sam confirmed her condition. " Oh you are awake, how are you? Are you hurt somewhere?" Sam immediately asked her. She moved all her limps before saying " Everything hurts but nothing seems to be broken. Where is my sister?" " I don''t know, I only woke up a moment ago. Rest here for now. I will look for your sister and take a look at Linda." Sam stood up and approched the oger. It lay in a pool of blood but Anna couldn''t be seen. Sam looked around and found her laying on the floor a bit away. She had some small wounds and a more serious injury on her leg but her pulse seemed good. ''She must have killed the oger. Linda is laying over there but where are Jack, Nissa and the other oger?'' Sam carefully picked Anna up and carried her over to her twin sister. After putting here next to Nina he approched Linda who was waking up at this time. She warily looked around for enemies and spotted Sam. She asked " You are back to normal right? Where are the others?" " I am fine. The twins are over there. Can you walk?" Linda stood up and followed Sam. When they returned Anna was already awake. The females embraced each other while asking if everyone was ok. Sam checked their surroundings before saying to Anna " Congratulations, I suppose you were the one who killed the oger and leveled up! But right now I need to know where Jack and Nissa are, do you know where they went?" " I didn''t see them leave but I don''t think they would lead the oger towards Blackstone city. This way is the lake, which means we have to search in the direction they came from!" Anna said after thinking about it. "Let''s go, we have to look for Jack and Nissa!" Sam said after everyone had regained their power and stood up. Pursuit Sam looked around and found the footprints of the second oger. Sam and the others followed them for 30 minutes until they arrived at a forest. But before they had left the battlefield Sam had picked up the big Roman shield the dead oger had used before. They cautiously entered the forest and followed the trails. They saw slashmarks the greatsword had left in a couple of trees and smaller trees that had been totally shattered. Sams group couldn''t hear any loud noises like trampling or bellowing which alarmed them a lot. '' We must have slept quite long, otherwise we would hear at least some distinct sounds of fighting. Or Jack and Nissa have already killed it!'' Sam thought while wandering through the forest. The trails lead them north until they reached a clearing inside the forest. A carriage lay on the side partially damaged. Sam slowly approached it and discovered a few bloody human bodies behind it. There were four corpses and an old man who was only a few moments away from taking his last breath. Sam ran next to him and crouched down. He looked into the old mans eyes and said " Old man, we are pursuing an oger who chases our friends, were you attacked by the oger as well?" The old man was very weak. A bloody wound on his chest constantly leaked blood but he still managed to answer " It smacked our carriage when it passed us and killed my family! I will warn you, the oger chases it towards the labyrinth dungeon in the north. This dungeon is where the ogers come from, most likely their settlement or something. I told you everything I know about your friend, now do me a favor and kill me! I want to see my wife and kids again." Sam nodded and pierced the heart which he could see pumping inside the open chest wound. Anna had searched the insides of the carriage and returned with a little bottle holding a red liquid inside. " Sam I found this! Could this be a potion? I have never seen one before." Sam took the bottle and answered " Red liquid is a health potion in most of the RPG''s but we should let someone check it back in Blackstone City before we drink it. More important right now is that Jack and Nissa will enter the dungeon at this rate. They won''t survive a dungeon with only the two of them! Going back to Blackstone, getting supplies and return here would take at least four hours...we are all worn out as well! There must be another way. Oh I totally forgot!" Sam opened the guild menu. He found Jack, Nissa and also Kain still on the member list. He called Jack first. " Jack! How are you doing? What''s the situation?" "Sam, good to hear you. We are still being chased by the oger. We cannot leave the trail because it would get us inside the bushes more easily. We don''t have any more arrows and are totally fatigued. Wait! There is a cave in front, we should he save inside!"If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Sam wanted to warn him that they had most likely reached the labyrinth dungeon but the signal was lost after Jack entered the dungeon. " Damn they have entered the dungeon! We need to hurry! Let me call Kain." Sam said to the others. After choosing Kains name in the list the call connected. " Hey man, you made it back to Blackstone city? How is it looking over there?" " Yeah I made it back, about 250 people survived the attack and made it to Blackstone as well! Only one woman and one man of Bobo''s five man group remain, the rest were killed during the battle. Where are you? Do you need some help?" " Actually, I need you to get some potions from the medicine store on the buisness street, as well as a bunch of arrows. After that you come to my position and we will enter the labyrinth dungeon!" Sam gave Kain the direction they were in and ended the conversation afterwards. He turned towards the three females behind him and said. " I want you three to return to Blackstone to rest and defend the city. I will be sure to buy some more soldiers when I return, but right now I need at least a few powerful fighters to defend our city. You are the only three I have left to do that. Furthermore you won''t be of much help inside the dungeon. You are all fatigued and need some good rest!" Anna and Nina complained that he had fought before as well but Sam insisted on that point. He ended up promising the twins to take on an adventurer quest together after getting back. Linda smiled and assured Sam that she would bring the twins back to the city. The females left five minutes later and Sam sat down to rest for a few moments. He started to walk towards the dungeon afterwards in a slow pace. Around two hours later he reached the dungeon entrance. He saw an oger waiting in front of the entrance. Its eye was pieced by an arrow and some other arrows could be seen sticking out of its body. '' That''s Jacks and Nissas opponent! Seems like he guards to make sure they won''t come out. I have to wait for Kain to arrive. He is already Level 8, having another Level 10 fighter will be very helpful inside the dungeon!'' Sam thought while observing the oger. After another hour Kain arrived heavily breathing. He sat down next to Sam and tried to catch his breath. Sam gave him a few minutes and used this time to explain what had happened. " I don''t know if they are right behind the entrance and if we can leave immediately after entering but both Jack and Nissa are out of arrows. We have to help them! We will kill this oger first, more precisely you will kill it and level up!" The started to move after their conversation. Kain sneaked through the forest approaching the entrance from the left side while Sam simply walked directly towards the cave, not minding the oger standing in front of the entrance. It spotted Sam and marched towards him. It actually limped because of the injuries. Sam started to run after putting his Roman shield to the ground. He only used his spiked shield and charged at its leg. He rolled to the side to evade a sword strike and stabbed the back of the ogers knee. Sam didn''t waste time and attacked the other knee as well. After stabbing it from the back too, the oger knelt down. At this moment Kain jumped out of the bushes and swung his sword at the ogers right arm. Even though a big wound appeared on its arm, the oger punched out towards Sam. Sam placed his shield in front of him, awaiting the punch. He flew backwards after the impact but landed on his feet this time. The oger swung its sword clashing against Kains greatsword. With a loud *crack* Kains sword broke in half and he got slammed to the ground. Before the oger could attack the downed Kain, Sam appeared in front of him continuously stabbing the arm holding the greatsword. When Sam had stabbed around 15 times the sword fell down. Kain stood up and attacked again with his now shortened sword. Kain decided to throw his damaged sword and hit the ogers throat. He swiftly picked up the ogers sword afterwards and attacked its uninjured eye. He jumped forward and used all of his power to push the sword deep inside the ogers head. After he had inserted the sword around half of his length, the oger stopped moving and died. Sam came over and slapped Kains shoulder. " Nicely done! Let''s rest for a second and then enter the dungeon!" Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon '' Attention! You have entered Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon! Guild Chat is disabled inside the dungeon. You are allowed to leave the dungeon at any time as long as as you can find the exit. This dungeon hasn''t been cleared until now. '' Sam read the message, closed the red screen and looked around the cave. It was a dark middle sized room illuminated by a few torches hanging on the wall. Two tunnels lead away from the room. "Why are Jack and Nissa not here? They should have gotten the same message, I can''t believe they entered the dungeon after getting these informations. Which way did they take?" Sam spoke more to himself than to Kain. Both of them walked towards the tunnels when the stone floor flipped aside and they slid down a crude made stone ramp into a dark abyss. They hit the hard stone floor after a few moments. " It''s Sam! I wanted to contact you, but it isn''t possible inside this dungeon. " Jack walked over and helped Sam up. " I am glad we found you! We should have much better chances to get out of this dungeon alive with the four of us. To have a trap in the very first room after entering, that''s fucked up! Did you already check the surroundings?" Sam asked after he stood back on his feet. Kain gave a simple quiver with 20 arrows each to Jack and Nissa. " There is only one tunnel leading out of this room. The stone ramp is to steep to climb upwards and the stone floor seems to close again after someone fell through. Our only way is through this tunnel!" Jack pointed to a dark tunnel at the end of the room. It wasn''t illuminated, so Jack and Nissa each took a torch from the wall after Sam had picked one and followed behind him. Kain walked at the rear to protect the archers in the case of a surprise attack. The tunnels were three to four meter high and wide. The walls were rough with a lot of sharp edges. They reached the first corner after around 200 meters. Sam looked around it and saw a moving light slowly going away. Sam turned around and signaled the others to wait. He bumped his shields against each other producing a metallic sound. The light stopped and started to approach their group after a few moments.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Sam told the others to go back another few meters and waited at the corner for the approaching enemy. He looked around the corner again when the enemy got closer and inspected the monster. It was a an orc in heavy armor. ( Orc Warrior Level 10 ) '' It is the first Level 10 monster I see that is no boss! The boss in here is most likely Level 15, maybe Level 20.'' The orc held a halberd in one hand and a torch in the other. Sam retracted his head when the light got too close and waited for the enemy to come around the corner. He saw the tip of the halberd first and and charged before the orc got a chance to glimpse around the corner. Sam ran at full speed and tackled the orc right when it reached the corner. The orc slammed into the stone wall from the impact. It let go of its weapon and torch but immediately tried to stand up. Sam used his chance and slammed his torch directly into the orcs face. It wore a helmet, but this one only protected the head and nose, leaving the rest of the face open for better view. The flames burnt its face. Sam continued with a violent stab to the face. The orc stopped moving after being stabbed through the eye. ''Congratulations Sam Williams for rising to Level 11!!!You can distribute three stat points now'' ''I actually got three stat points this time! I put them all into defense. I need to stand strong inside this dungeon.'' ''Stat points allocated'' The rest of his group came over to Sam''s side. Sam took the orcs equipment and divided it between Kain and himself. He took the helmet, boots and pants, which were all reinforced with thick steel plates. Kain got a breastplate, gloves and the halberd which he strapped into his back next to his greatsword. They resumed their journey for another hour until they reached the first intersection. " Let''s go straight for now!" Sam said and walked straight forward, not even looking at the right or left way. The walked for ten minutes when they heard sounds coming from the front. Sam let Jack scout out the situation, his armor was too loud and would attract the enemies easily. Jack returned after five minutes. " There is a big cave 100 meters in front of us. I saw at least five orcs sitting at a bonfire talking to each other. Three of them have the same equivalent like the one you killed before. The other two are archers but their equipment looks much better too!" Jack told them what he saw. " Five and maybe more Level 10 orcs are too much for us right now. Let''s retreat and check the other two tunnels from before." Sam proposed to which the others nodded. Not one of them felt confident in fighting five Level 10 monsters at this moment. When the returned to the intersection they were all exhausted. Sam looked around and spoke. " How about we return to the place where we landed and sleep for a bit? We have been fighting the whole day and that place is the safest right now. We don''t know what awaits us inside these tunnels, I would rather go inside a bit more energized!" They walked back to the beginner cave where they had landed after falling through the trap door. Sam kept the first guard. He sat next to the tunnel and thought about the dungeon. '' This will be a hard journey. If we had the chance to leave I would take the others out first. I hope we can find at least two Level 10 boss monsters here, so that Jack and Nissa can level up. I would be feeling more at ease with them being Level 10. On the other hand, we will get a lot of rewards if we can clear this dungeon! That''s really tempting. Some other group might find this dungeon and clear it while I am away to get a party for the clearing together." Sam thought about various things. He wakes up Kain after three hours and lay down on the hard ground to get a couple hours of sleep. Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon part 2 Sam got woken up after three hours. Kain had brought a few rations which they divided between the group members so that everyone could eat a simple meal. Sam looked at the torches that were still burning. '' What makes them burn so long?'' He looked inside a little steel cage at the top of the torch. A stone was embedded inside the cage. The stone was the object producing the flames. '' I don''t know how long they last but if we could mine this sort of stone we would benefit greatly. To have light at night is a luxury nowadays! We could even lighten all of the streets in Blackstone city!'' They packed their few belongings and started to walk to the intersection they had been before. Sam chose the left tunnel this time. It lead them straight forward for one hour before they reached a cave. Torches around the walls illuminated the cave. It was round with a diameter of around 50 meters. In the middle stood a creature, with around 2,5 meters height. The upper body was the naked torso of a man but the lower body didn''t consist of two legs, instead the legs of a horse were attached to the body. It was a centaur! It had a quiver strapped to it''s back and held a big black bow. It turned towards Sam and his group when they entered the cave. " Who dares to enter this cave without my permission? Don''t you know who I, Taros am? If you kneel and beg for forgiveness right now, I might take you as my slaves, otherwise I will kill you after torturing you for 10 days and 10 nights!" Sam listened to the centaur and checked its information. ( Centaur Archer Taros Level 10 Boss ) " It is only one monster inside this room, even though it''s a Level 10 boss we should be fine defeating it." At the moment Sam finished his sentence a sound could be heard. Kains right arm got shot through by an arrow. Kain yelped and immediately tried to stop the blood from flowing out of the wound.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Sam saw the centaur already aiming to shoot the next arrow and stepped in front of the injured Kain. " Jack, Nissa quickly go behind Kain and get ready to shoot your arrows. Wait for my signal!" Jack and Nissa took cover behind Sam''s Roman shield. Sam braced himself against the shield waiting for the impact. Sam got pushed back half a meter but stabilized himself right afterwards. The centaur started to move, riding from left to right. Sam shouted " Jack, Nissa, start shooting! I will try to cover you and Kain." Jack and Nissa nodded and began to fire their arrows. The centaur accelerated and evaded most of the incoming arrows, nevertheless a few still hit its lower body or unprotected arms. Sam mirrored the centaurs movements so that he always stood between his comrades and the centaur. Sam blocked five arrows with his Roman shield and threw his spiked shield to intercept an arrow he wouldn''t have reached in time. After five minutes of combat, Jack finally hit a vital spot of the centaur killing it in the process. He also leveled up to Level 10. Kain used half of one health portion to heal his injury, while Jack and Nissa collected their arrows and looted the centaurs corpse. Jack took the black bow and Nissa got the advanced leather armor to better protect her upper body. Sam used the break to take a closer look at the cave. First thing he noticed was that there were no other tunnels exiting the cave. Sam went to the middle of the cave where the centaur had been at the beginning. He found a book with a washed out cover. ( The "Rapid Shooting" Manual ) !!! '' This should be a skill book if I am not wrong! These are great rewards for killing a Level 10 boss.'' Sam decided to give it to his friend Jack. He was the best archer in Blackstone City after all! Jack took the book and opened the first page. He closed his eyes after reading the first couple of sentences. A smile appeared on Jacks face after a few seconds. He opened his eyes and spoke " It really was a skill book, I learned the ( Rapid Shooting ) skill which allows me to shoot five arrows in ten seconds. The accuracy and speed will improve by leveling the skill up. Unfortunately, only some special skill books can be used multiple times. This one can only be used once!" " What''s the cooldown for ( Rapid Shooting ) ?" Sam asked. " Right now, one hour but it will reduce with the Level." answered Jack. " That''s a really good skill. I think we should carefully inspect every room we enter. We might find more skillbooks or good equipment! " Sam told the members of his group. They left the cave afterwards and returned to the intersection to take the right tunnel. They walked for ten minutes when they reached another big cave. Inside was a centaur again but this time it wasn''t alone. Five orcs in steel armor, wielding halberds stood around the centaur who held a black bow as well. " You pieces of shit are here to protect this cave, why the hell are you still standing here? Go and kill them!" the centaur ordered his underlings. The orcs started their charge while the centaur already knocked an arrow. " Jack, Nissa, immediately shoot the centaur. I will team up with Kain and kill the orcs. This time I won''t be able to protect you, use you skills and kill the boss as fast as possible. His arrows are way too dangerous!" Sam shouted to the back. He looked at Kain and charged at the orcs together with him. Kain ran faster than Sam and reached the orcs before him. He used his AOE skill to buy some time. Sam arrived shortly afterwards, tackling one orc to the ground and stabbing it''s throat directly after that. Like this only four orcs remained for Sam and Kain to kill. Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon part 3 While Sam and Kain were killing the orcs, Jack and Nissa shot arrows without pause. Jack used his new skill hitting the centaur multiple times but without a critical hit. He also watched out for Nissa and made sure she didn''t got hurt. He had to push her out of the way two times, resulting in him getting scratched by the arrows. Jack looked at Nissa " I will make sure the centaur doesn''t move for a few seconds, you will take the chance and use your skill to kill it!" Nina had received the ( Penetrating Shot ) skill which enabled her to break through armor with a high possibility. The downside to this skill was that it took a long time to use it. Nissa had to focus on her target and draw her bow as hard as she could. In order for her to use this skill she needed someone to buy her time and make the enemy hold its position. Jack approched the centaur while shooting arrows continuously but when he reached 20 meters distance he wanted to grab another arrow only to realize he had no more left. The centaur took its time to pull out the arrows that hit its legs and hindered its movement. It saw Jack grabbing his empty quiver and drew its bow with an arrogant smile. Before it could finish drawing the bow its chest got penetrated by an arrow. Nissas arrow had actually entered through the back penetrating the armor at the back too! The centaur fell to the ground with blood spurting out of its chest and died. Sam and Kain had killed their opponents too. The dead orcs lay in big pools of their own blood, arms, legs and heads were scattered on the floor around them. Sam approched Nissa to congratulate her for reaching Level 10. Kain and Jack did the same.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Sam went to the middle of the cave and to the centaurs corpse to look for equipments and skillbooks. He didn''t find anything on the ground, but after stripping the centaur of its leather armor Sam found another skillbook. The title was nearly unreadable. It took Sam a few moments to decipher the text on the cover. "..so it isn''t an archer skill! It says ( Taming ). Hey Nissa, do you want to learn this skill?" Sam asked but Nissa shook her head and said " Thanks for the offer but I decline! To be honest, I don''t want to leave Blackstone City in the future, if possible. I would prefer to train our hunters and archers or manage our defenses. I think you as the king should learn this skill and improve your combat power!" Sam nodded and didn''t discuss anymore. Jack and Kain agreed with Nissa as well. " Ok, then let me learn it right now!" Sam told the others and opened the skillbook. ( Taming - This skill enables you to tame normal animals, wild beasts and monsters. In most cases it is enough to knock the creature unconscious, touch its head and activate the skill. Some special cases may need to be fed rare sorts of food or have other restrictions to be tamed. Tamed creatures are able to level up as well and it will be impossible for them to betray the tamer and/ or harm him. Creatures much stronger than the tamer might be able to resist the skill. Leveling up this skill will improve the number of creatures that can be tamed at the same time. Number of creatures that can be tamed right now: 1 ) Sam read through the description two times because he didn''t want to miss something. '' This skill is really damn good! I have to level this one up fast, so I can tame more creatures in the future.'' Sam told his comrades about the skill before they left the cave to return to the place they came from. They were exhausted when they reached the familiar intersection, however they continued to walk towards the big cave they had seen the group of orcs before. " We have to pass the big cave otherwise we will die down here! We don''t have food anymore, that''s why we have to find the exit or kill the dungeon boss before we get too weak from malnutrition." Sam told his companions while walking through the tunnel. Sam and his group carefully approched the cave and took a look at the situation first. Eight orcs, equipped with swords, halberds and bows stood inside the cave talking to each other. Sam whispered " What about all of your skills? Have they cooled down?" Nissa nodded. Her ( Penetrating Shot ) could be used again. Jack and Kain could use one skill each as well. " Ok, than let''s do it like that.." Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon part 4 Sam and his group stealthily moved towards the orc camp. At 50 meters distance Jack and Nissa stopped and aimed at the orc archers. Sam and Kain walked forward another ten meters when the orcs noticed them. Their armors weren''t made to sneak around and made too much noise. The moment the orcs turned towards Sam and Kain, two of the orc archers fell backwards with arrows in their heads. Jack and Nissa had used their archery skills to instantly take out the enemy archers. After that, they concentrated on a halberd wielding orc who stood a bit away from its comrades. The remaining orcs charged at the approaching Sam with raised weapons. Kain used his skill to push three orcs away and attacked a fourth one afterwards. Sam rammed the last orc to the ground. He grabbed its helmet and took it off. After hitting the side of the orcs head two times, it fell unconscious. Sam approched a different orc and killed it after a quick fight. When Sam had killed the second orc, Kain had disposed of the other two. Jack and Nissa killed the halberd wielding orc together. It lay on the ground pierced by many arrows. San approached the unconscious orc and used his new taming skill for the first time. He touched the orcs forehead and concentrated on controlling the orc. A short glow appeared on Sams hand before the orc slowly awakened. It stood up, grabbed the fallen halberd and looked at Sam, waiting for orders. " What is your name? Your class and skill? " Sam asked the orc. " Kurz did they call me, I don''t know what classes you mean. I only have one skill, I can roar and attract enemies but I don''t really use it. What do you want me to do? " Kurz, the orc answered. Sam thought before he said " You will follow me and my group for now! Wait for other orders." Jack, Nissa and Kain looked at Kurz with worried expressions. Jack went over to Sam and asked in a low voice " Hey, can we trust this orc? I mean, you are the one who tamed it, it won''t attack you for sure but what is with us?" " Hey Kurz, they are my friends, if you dare attack the I will kill you on the spot! Do you understand me?" Sam stared at the orc. " I understand! " Kurz answered. Sam turned towards Jack and said " I think he can''t go against my orders. We will observe Kurz for sometime to make sure he doesn''t act suspiciously. Let''s check this cave and look for loot. You go with Nissa and Kain, I will take Kurz with me. Be cautious, there might be more orcs inside these tents. You search the left side and every tent while I will look through the tents on the right side!"Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Jack nodded and started to search through the tents with his group. Sam searched the others and after ten minutes they met at the end of the cave where they piled up the loot. Jack and Nissa found shoes and gloves which they changed with their own gear. Kain found a few parts too. They found a big pile of dried meat but didn''t eat it. They weren''t sure what sort of meat it was. They left most of the things they found before leaving through a tunnel at the end of the cave. Sam handed Kurz a torch and let him guard their backs while he himself took the lead. They walked for more than one hour before reaching an intersection. They could continue walking forward or they could take a tunnel to the left. " Let''s Go left first!" Sam ordered and turned left. They walked for another 30 minutes before reaching a bright lit cave. On one side of the cave was a massive pile of rocks, glowing red. It were the stones used in the torches. Right next to the pile stood to monsters. Sam and his group could clearly see the creatures. They were 2 meters high and had greenish scales all over their bodies. They had thick tails and long heads just like lizards. ( Lizardmen Level 13 ) They looked really muscular and their eyes were fixated on Sams group. They both held long spears and oval shields. The materials were almost black in color. They stopped after being near enough to see the monsters levels. Sam wanted to return and check the other way first but before he could voice his opinion a iron gate flipped down behind them and blocked off their way of retreat. The lizardmen seemed to smirk while they started to approach the group of Sam. " Jack, Nissa quickly start shooting! We don''t know how strong Level 13 is, we need to be careful!" Sam hastily ordered. The archers started to shoot their arrows right afterwards. " Kurz, you come with Kain and me. Be careful not to hit one of us when the fight begins!" The orc nodded, threw the torch aside and gripped the halberd in both hands. The three close combat fighters walked forward to meet the enemies. One lizardman had a shallow wound on its shoulder, otherwise no real damage had been done by the arrows. Jack shouted from behind. " Sorry, but their scales are too hard for us to break!" Sam and his group kept on walking forward and started to run when they were only 20 meters apart from the monsters. The lizardmen started to charge as well, with their shields raised in front of their bodies. Sam had also raised his Roman shield in front of him while holding his spiked shield in the other hand, ready to strike out. The impact came and Kain as well as the orc Kurz were thrown backwards. The lizardmen had actually attacked the two fighters with the least defense first and started to swing at Sam together afterwards. Sam was pushed back too. He used his two shields to defend against the incoming spears but especially his left side where he held the smaller spiked shield got wounded quite a few times in only half a minute. Kain and Kurz who were dazed after landing on the ground got back up and began their counterattack. Kurz appeared behind a lizarman swinging his halberd downwards at its unprotected back. The strength of a Level 10 monster was only enough to slice into the scales, no more than one centimeter deep. Sam frowned and grumbled to himself " This will be troublesome." Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon part 5 The lizardman turned around and smacked Kurz aside with its shield but got intercepted by Kain before it could continue its attacks on the orc. Sam used his Roman shield to defend against multiple stabs while testing his opponents reactions by stabbing as well. After blocking a large swing from his opponent Sam successfully hit the lizardmans chest. He frowned after realizing he had only pierced one or two centimeters deep into the monsters chest. '' Their defense is too strong. I used more than half of my available strength and hardly even wounded the lizardman. I have to find a weak spot or we all might die today.'' Sam looked around. Jack and Nissa had stopped firing after the lizardmen engaged in close combat, in fear of accidently hitting their group members. Jack was moving left and right, trying to get an angle where he could shoot without his comrades being in the way. Kain and Kurz fought one ligardman together. They hacked and slashed without pause but couldn''t critically injure it. After that, Sam looked at his opponent. The lizardman opened its mouth showing two rows of sharp teeth. It seemed to smile after it realized Sam and his group were too weak to harm them. The other lizardman seemed to realize the same thing and began to attack more vicious. It stabbed with the spear and swinging its shield, completely disregarding the defense. Sam had a bad feeling and wanted to warn the others but got pushed back by the enemy he was facing. His Roman shield got pushed aside and a spear appeared, directly piecing Sams right shoulder. The shield fell down, Sam couldn''t muster enough power to hold the heavy shield. His shoulder hurt and blood kept pouring out endlessly, but the lizardman still held the spear and slowly exerted more strength to pierce deeper into his shoulder. Sam roared because of the pain, gritted his teeth and took a few steps backwards to pull the weapon out of his body. The lizardman didn''t continue his attacks, it instead retracted the spear and used its long tongue to lick off the blood from the spear tip. Sam used the small break to take another few steps backwards and turned towards Kain and Kurz. He saw Kain who was limping, with a bloody wound on his left leg and Kurz who still tried to defend against the incoming spear attacks. Kurz jumped forward and smashed the halberd against the shield with a loud roar.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. *Clang* The weapon shattered from the impact and while Kurz tried to regain its balance, the lizardman had already stabbed forward. With a cracking noise the orcs skull shattered and Kurz fell to the ground. ( Your tamed creature ''Kurz'' died! ) Sam had no really interaction with the orc, making the death of Kurz not really painful to him. It was only troubling for him to lose a warrior in the middle of the fight. Sam and Kain were both wounded, while Jack and Nissa couldn''t really deal damage, what made the situation really dangerous. Sam shouted " Nissa, if your ( Penetrating Arrow ) is ready you have to kill one of them. I am pretty sure this skill is enough to seriously wound these lizardmen!" Nissa nodded and concentrated on the lizardman standing in front of Sam. This one still seemed to smile while licking the blood off the spear. After a few moments, the lizarman suddenly knelt down before looking at its chest. Nissas arrow had actually penetrated the scales and embedded itself right where the human heart would be. Fortunately the lizarmen had their hearts at the same place. The other lizardman witnessed its comrade dying and started to roar in anger. It glared at Nissa who had killed its comrade before gripping the spear in another stance. The lizardman got ready to throw the spear at Nissa! Sam reacted immediately and threw his shield to intercept the spear. Sams throw was only enough to slightly change the direction the spear headed but couldn''t stop it from brushing past Nissas face, leaving a deep cut on her cheek. Jack quickly shot his last three arrows but still without any visible effect. Meanwhile, Sam had picked up the dead lizardmans spear and walked towards the remaining monster. Kain approached it as well. Sam spoke " I think I know how we can kill it ! It would be best if we can bring it on the ground and stab its mouth and eyes afterwards. These are the only weak points I can think of right now. Kain, you will swing your sword at the back of its knees while I tackle it from the front. Hopefully it will fall with that!" Sam and Kain got ready. Sam yelled to get the monsters attention and lead it a bit away from Kain. After it had totally focused on Sam, Kain slowly sneaked behind its back. He wasn''t very fast because of his injury to begin with. When Kain reached a distance to strike, Sam began to charge. He let go off his spear and used his left shoulder to tackle against the raised shield of the lizardman. Sams and Kains timing were pretty good, they actually hit at the same time. The lizardman got pushed backwards against the sword, making it lose its balance. It landed on its back with Sam still on top of it. Sam quickly knelt on its two massive arms and shouted at Kain " What are you waiting for? Pierce its head!" Kain raised his sword and stabbed at one of the lizardmans eyes. His sword destroyed the eyeball and unexpectedly easy entered the monsters skull. After a few twitches the lizardman stopped moving forever. Sam and his group all sat down on the ground while breathing heavily. " They were really strong! The rewards should be good right?" Jack asked. Sam stood up after a few minutes and started to check the corpses. Apart from the spears and shield he didn''t find anything. He looked through the rest of the cave, but it hat no exiting tunnels and excluding the pile of ''light stones'' nothing else could be found. Sam returned to his comrades and informed them of the non- existing loot. " How can this be possible? We nearly died in this fight and our escape path also got blocked when we entered this cave, our rewards should be awesome!" Nissa complained while holding a piece of cloth against her cheek. Sam thought the same. '' I must have overlooked something! '' Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon part 6 Sam thought for a bit longer until he got a flash of inspiration. He looked at the corpses of the lizardmen and walked towards the first who had died. Sam knelt besides it and inspected the wound on its chest. The scales were still undamaged, they had just been pushed aside and had opened a path for the arrow to piece the body. Sam stuck one of his inside the wound and bent it to pull out one of the scales. He checked one of the greenish scales after he had successfully pulled it out. It was really light but extremely durably, what the fight earlier had proven. " Hey , I think the rewards are the scales of these monsters. I bet an experienced blacksmith will be able to make some sort of armor out of it!" Sam declared after turning towards his comrades. The others looked at the corpses as well and started to pull out the scales after agreeing with Sams opinion. They needed a whole hour to collect the biggest and therefore most usable scales. When they were finished they decided to rest for a few hours. Sam and Kain used potions before falling asleep. Jack volunteered for the first guard and Nissa joined him, still pressing a cloth against her cheek. Jack looked at her and said " You should use a potion as well! A scar will be left on your face without using one." " I don''t really mind. We aren''t done with this dungeon, who knows how long we will be trapped in here. We should save these potions for emergencies!" Nissa answered with a smile. She sat next to Jack and leaned against his body before she fell asleep.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Jack embraced her well trained body and continued to guard the only tunnel leaving this cave. Jack woke the others up after around three hours. He assured them that he was still feeling well, therefore they decided to return to the last tunnel they hadn''t explored until then. Sam and his group walked back to the intersection and turned left. They walked for another day, occasionally exploring different tunnels and killing more than a dozen orcs. Sam reached Level 12, Kain and Jack Level 11. Apart from orcs they also killed another centaur, however no more lizardmen appeared. The group took a break in another dead end and discussed their next actions. " We have to find a way out soon!" Sam said in a worried voice. His three comrades nodded without saying anything. They were all fatigued and only wanted to leave the dungeon. Sam and his group had no water and food left when they stood up and resumed their exploration. After two hours of walking they entered a completely empty cave. Sam looked around but couldn''t find anything suspicious. " That''s strange. This is the first cave with nothing in it." Sam said and wanted to take a closer look at the cave , when *Click* The floor flipped aside, exactly like in the beginning room of this dungeon. Sam and the rest slid downwards for a few moments before they hit the ground. They immediately stood up and looked around to inspect the new cave. It was a gigantic rectangular cave with torches lighting the whole place. Around 100 meters in front was a big throne with a monster sitting on it. Sams group slowly moved forward until they could identify the monster on the throne. It was a Minotaur! The red bull eyes scanned the newly arrived group. The monster stood up, presenting a frame of more than three meters height with a massive battleaxe the size of a full grown man in its left hand. ( Minotaur Drogan Level 15 Dungeon Boss ) '' This is a completely new league of monsters! We fought for many days, without a good rest or meal and now we have to fight an enemy like that!'' Sams thought before he noticed something behind the monster. "Look! It''s a staircase leading upstairs." The dungeon boss stood in the middle of the cave, raised its arms and gave off a thunderous roar. Sam and the others blocked their ears with difficulty and knelt on the ground because of the shaking cave. This one roar made them lose their courage before the battle had even begun. Minotaur Drogan The Minotaur roared again before taking another glance at the human invaders of its cave. After that it started to walk towards them. Every step was accompanied by loud noises and the shaking of the cave. Sam turned to his comrades " We might be able to reach the staircase without killing the boss. Let me face the Minotaur first, I have the strongest defense after all! I should be able to buy time for you to reach the exit." Sam grabbed both of his shields and stepped forward. He was scared but as the only member specialized in defense he had to play the role of a tank. '' This thing is too fucking big! It might even kill me with one strike.'' Sam felt cold sweat on his back and his hands shaking. The boss monster arrived in front of him and instead of wasting time it immediately slashed at Sam, who hid behind his Roman shield while pressing his shoulder against it. The strike connected and Sam lost his footing, therefore flying through the cave for ten meters. Sam crashed on his back, holding his breath because of the intense pain. His shoulder felt numb and the Roman shield had already a long crack. Sam stood up with difficulty and looked around to see if his comrades had already reached the exit. To Sams surprise they were still at the same place. Jack and Nissa had each knocked an arrow, ready to shoot Drogan while Kain stepped next to Sam with the greatsword in his hands. Kain looked at Sam and said " We won''t let you be the bait. We fight together and we die together!" Sam was thankful but didn''t say a word and only nodded. He threw the damaged shield away and took one from the earlier killed lizarmen. " Don''t let yourself get hit Kain, or you might be killed instantly! The earlier impact nearly broke my bones despite defending with my shield!" Sam spoke and raised his shield to continue the fight. " Try to attack it from behind while it focuses on me. Jack, you two shoot everything you have. Use all your available skills and aim for weakpoints like the eyes!" Sam shouted to the two archers. They immediately started shooting and Kain sneaked around Drogan while Sam shouted at the Minotaur to draw its attention.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Drogan swung the axe another time from overhead but Sam didn''t try to defend anymore. He instead took two steps sideways and evaded the massive weapon. Kain appeared and attacked the back of the monsters knees but he had to retreat when the Minotaur slapped at him with its free hand. He was covered by the incoming arrows of their archers. Jack was swearing after repeatedly missing the eyes of Drogan, so he activated his skill and finally wounded one of the boss monsters eyes. Unfortunately the arrow wasn''t able to penetrate the brain. Drogan roared in pain and anger and changed its attention on Jack. Sam had anticipated this and moved to block the path. Kain also used the distraction and appeared behind the Minotaur again. He used all of his power this time and wounded the back of one of its knees which resulted in the Minotaur kneeling down on one knee. More arrows hit the monsters body, some without much effect, while others hit its face, wounding it quite a bit. Kain approached again but was smacked aside this time. He was lucky that he had only been hit by the hand and not the axe. He hit the cave wall and passed out on the ground. Meanwhile Sam attacked the legs of the boss monster with his spiked shield. He stabbed the side of the already injured leg multiple times before he quickly evaded the battleaxe. Sam and his group had successfully crippled the monster making it unable to stand up. The archers had to stop their shooting a few minutes later. All of their arrows were either destroyed, or were stuck in Drogans body. They couldn''t retrieve them, so they ran over towards Kain to check on his condition. Sam retreated and made some distance between himself and the Minotaur. He relaxed after seeing it being unable to follow. It somehow tried to crawl but without much success. Sam looked at his comrades and the monster and thought. '' I won''t be able to kill the boss with this spiked shield. Jack and Nissa are out of ammo and Kain is still unconscious. What to do? Simply leaving? No! Now that the monster is nearly dead I have to kill it and level up!'' Sam looked around. His eyes stopped at the location they had placed their luggage. He saw the two spears they had taken from the lizardmen. They were made of the same black material as the shields. Sam went over to grab them. They were around 1,7m long and really light. He returned to the Minotaurs front and threw one spear at its head, precisely towards the uninjured eye. The head of the axe appeared in front of the monsters face and blocked Sams spear. Sam retrieved the bounced off spear and threw it again. Drogan repeated his action and lifted the axe to block. At this moment, Sam used his full power and threw the spear at the Minotaurs exposed chest. It hit perfectly, only his strength wasn''t enough and the spear didn''t reach the heart. Minotaur Drogan roared again but Sam had already started to approach it. He picked up the fallen spear and threw it at the still roaring Drogan with full force. The boss was still howling in pain, therefore didn''t notice the incoming spear. It hit exactly where Sam had aimed. Drogans throat got pierced and after the shocked monster ripped out the spear, its blood started to pour out of the critical wound. Drogan let go of the battleaxe and pressed both hands against the wound, however the blood couldn''t be stopped. The boss monster stopped moving shortly afterwards and a familiar red screen appeared in front of Sam. Martial Arts '' Congratulations Sam Williams! For killing a Level 15 boss monster you reach Level 15! '' '' For reaching Level 15 you are rewarded with the new skill ( Martial Arts )'' '' You can distribute 20 stat points now.'' " Well, 5 points in defense, speed, health, stamina and accuracy each." '' stat points allocated '' Sam went over towards Jack and the others. " How is Kain doing? Is he seriously hurt?" " No he just smacked his head against the wall. He is unconscious but should be fine except a little headache. Nissa applied some portion on his head to be on the safe side." Jack answered. " That''s a relief! I will check the Minotaurs corpse. We will leave after Kain has woken up!" Sam approached the corpse and started to search for useful things. He tried to lift the battleaxe but even with his herculean strength he was almost unable to lift it. He didn''t know how to get this weapon back to Blackstone city and who would be able to wield this axe in the first place. The Minotaur had no armor or defensive equipment, but Sams eyes fell on the horns on both sides of the head. '' They might be useful, or at least valuable! I should try to break them.'' Sam picked up his spiked shield he had thrown earlier and started to hack at the horns. One of them was already cracked and after a few hits it broke off. Sam used all his power and more than 20 hits to break the undamaged horn. He stored them in his backpack and decided to check his new skill next. ( Martial Arts This skill allows you to utilize different martial arts techniques while fighting without weapons. Upgrading this skill will make you learn more fighting styles like kung-fu, karate, Krav Maga and many more.) " This skill paired with my enormous strength will be awesome! " Sam felt excited and thought about the ways these two skills could be used in the future. Kain woke up one hour later. Sam told him what had happened and how they had killed the boss. They walked to the staircase and left the dungeon to finally return home. The moment Sam left the dungeon a red screen appeared. '' You and your group successfully cleared and left Drogans Labyrinth Dungeon, therefore your group is rewarded with 2000 reward points! Furthermore, each of the group members is rewarded with one Level Up as being the first group to clear this dungeon! '' All of the group members got a Level Up message after the first one and distributed their points before beginning their journey towards Blackstone city.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Sam didn''t forget to call Linda and ask what had happened while they were gone. " Hey Sam, finally some news from you, we were worried that something bad happened to you! " " We were trapped inside a dungeon, but we cleared it and are on our way back. Kain, Nissa and Jack are with me right now. How many days passed since we left and what has happened while we were gone?" " We didn''t hear anything from you for four days! A few things happened here in Blackstone City. A lot of the former villagers from Woodchester and Oakhausen decided to return and resettle these villages. The survivors from Bobo''s city also chose to live in the villages. We have around 100 villagers in each city right now, as well as 10 to 15 capable fighters to defend the cities until we can send reinforcements to help in a case of emergency. Rudolph and Carl returned to manage the villages and ensure they prosper. The second day after you left the twins accidentally ran into a quest and helped a merchant in a situation of life and death. It turned out it was a quest, where the merchant moved into their city after they saved them. You should check the city stats, I''m pretty sure the generated money or reward points should have risen after the merchant moved in. He has a lot of employees, three carriages which enter and leave the city the whole time. He also got a lot of information about the surrounding area and cities which are near ours! A big problem right now is our food. We have a lot of meat from all of the hunting, but vegetables and other things are nearly used up. Rudolf and Carl took quite a bit with them to feed their villagers too. We have to find other things than meat, if everything else is used up the meat won''t be enough for all of us as well! " " Yeah I know, I think I have a temporary solution for now but we have to find a stable income of food to be safe! " Sam and Linda talked for a bit more before they ended the call. Sam summarized the situation at Blackstone city to the others while they walked. A few hours later, without any unexpected events, Sam and his group reached Blackstone city. The guards welcomed them with smiles. Linda and the twins also arrived and greeted them. Anna told them about a newly opened restaurant, which served various dishes including the meat of the animals that had been killed while hunting. All of them decided to meet up at the new restaurant at 7pm, which left them with two hours to return home, wash themselves and meet up again. Sam took the two bags containing the lizarmen scales and Minotaur horns and stored them in the keeps treasury. He wanted to ask an experienced blacksmith, if he could craft something out of these materials. '' Now that we resettled the two villages we are in need of a truly experienced blacksmith! '' Sam had a lot of things running through his mind while he washed himself and dressed in a new set of clothes. At 7pm Sam arrived in front of the new restaurant " Meat Dreams " which seemed to be filled to the brim with customers. He entered and saw many people eating dishes consisting of meat and nothing else. No salad rice or potatoes could be seen on the plates. A young waitress lead Sam into a private room. Linda and the twins were already there sitting at a table and drinking water. Sam smiled at them and sat down. Jack, Nissa and Kain excused themselves through guild chat and said that they were too tired to go out and eat, so Sam ordered four dishes and started to talk with the women. He told them about the dungeon and the monsters they had fought, as well as the new skill he had obtained. " Nina and I have quite a bit of experience with martial arts. We have training in wing tsun, sambo and some other styles. We should spar to test your abilities hahaha!" Anna said and laughed. Sam smiled and they continued their conversation while eating their plates of deer meat. Their group left " Meat Dreams " after finishing their meal. Sam decided to walk the females home. Linda smiled at him before entering her home whereas the twins kissed him on his cheeks and told him that they really had missed him. Sam had a big smile when he entered the keep. He undressed and lay down to take a good rest after four days of fighting. '' I should talk to Orkan tomorrow and get some information from him.'' Sam thought before falling into a deep sleep. Merchant and Blacksmiths Sam woke up early and sat down on his throne after a small breakfast. He wanted to check the city''s stats and his reward points. " I actually have 2.835 reward points to spend! 2000 points were earned by our group and donated and the twins donated all their points as well. The rest are the accumulated points the city and villages generated. I thought about it yesterday, it would be great if we could transport the stones we prepare here in Blackstone city to the two villages. We could upgrade the buildings and walls and grow them to small cities! I should look for blacksmiths first. Low leveled ones like the one we have right now cost 10 reward points, but I need an experienced blacksmith to forge superior weapons and equipment! " Sam looked through the menu. He thought for a few minutes and decided to obtain four blacksmith trainees for five points each. This category only knew the basics and still needed to be teached by a more experienced blacksmith. He bought two low leveled ones. He planned to send one to Oakhausen and let one stay in Blackstone city. This way Arthur could return to Woodchester. Sam looked at the higher leveled blacksmiths but could only choose two different types. ( Castle Blacksmith: A blacksmith experienced in crafting armor and weapons out of rare sorts of steel and monster materials. Cost: 1000 points ) ( Magic Blacksmith: A blacksmith experienced in enchanting created equipment. Is able to use the same materials as the Castle Blacksmith. Cost: 5000 points ) " I should really buy a Castle Blacksmith. This way we could equip ourselves with better equipment. 1000 points are a lot, but I think this will be a useful investment. That means 1.040 points for all of the blacksmiths, that leaves me with 1.795 points." Seven figures appeared in the hall in front of Sam. At the forefront stood a big bald guy with a naked upper body. He was around 30-35 years old and held a big steel hammer. Sam instructed the other six blacksmiths, sending one trainee to Oakhausen and Woodchester each. Two trainees and one experienced blacksmith stayed in Blackstone to help the castle blacksmith. The castle blacksmith stepped forward. " My name is Lance, do you have a place for me to work at? And what do you want me to do?" I will give you these three to help you with your work, right now we need better armor and weapons for our soldiers. You should open a shop and sell your goods as well. I will come over later and show you some materials I obtained." Sam asked Kain over and told him to show Lance the smithy Arthur had worked at until now. He looked through the menu again after they had left the hall. He invested 200 points for 40 hunter trainees which could be trained by the hunters of their city. He told them where to go and instructed Linda to organize houses for all of the newcomers to live in.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. " I will save the remaining 1.595 for now. I most likely have to spend a few of them to buy food in the future!" Sam stood up and left the keep to visit the new merchant but before he left he took the lizardmen scales and Minotaur horns and stored them inside his backpack. He arrived at the merchants store a hour later. " Hello, my name is Sam and I''m the king of this city. I want to have a talk with Orkan." Sam explained to an employee who welcomed him. The employee bowed down and left to get his boss. A few moments later the merchant appeared. He was a short chubby man wearing expensive clothes and jewelry. He bowed to Sam and introduced himself. " My name is Orkan and I am the owner of this buisness. How can I help you, your majesty?" " First of all, please call me Sam. I have come here today to get some information from you, regarding the surroundings of our Blackstone city. What have you seen?" " I have only explored the south from here. I have seen three cities. The nearest is Whitewall, a city ruled by the Knights of Valor and Queen Silvie. I have entered this city and the citizens seem to be treated kindly. It is a walk of around eight hours away from here. Southwest from Whitewall is Tomorrowland, which I never entered. I passed the city''s fields and talked to their farmers. They told me about a group of talented fighters, archers and mages, who conquered the city and gave the surrounding villagers a save place to live. Tomorrowland is actually the biggest city I have seen in the last few weeks. The fields surrounding the city are also enormous, so I think there must be a lot of people living there. I don''t know what the last city is called and I didn''t dare to get near it. I saw human corpses who were hung on the dark walls and orcs, as well as more terrifying creatures roaming the walls. I immediately turned around and ran back after knowing it is a monster city. This place is at least 14 hours walk away from here. I can''t tell you much more except for that I am planning a journey to Whitewall and Tomorrowland, in hope of finding partners to trade and built connections with. I already posted a quest in the adventurers guild. I am looking for at least five adventurers to protect us on our journey. The outskirts of the cities are mostly cleared but in other areas a lot of monsters are still lurking and some of them have even built camps or villages." " I am really thankful for your informations. They are extremely useful to me. We will see us again, soon. I have to go now, if you need something you can come visit me in the keep." Sam had most of the informations he needed. He couldn''t ask Orkan if they were players or not, so he concluded this himself. '' I am sure the people who established Tomorrowland are players. I mean that is the same name as this famous festival right? I think the other city could be NPC''s but I can''t be sure of this.'' Sam kept thinking about this on his way to the new blacksmith. He had taken the smithy Arthur had used before and had already started working. Nissa had informed Arthur that he could return to Woodchester and organized two carriages to bring the blacksmiths to the villages. " Hello Lance, did you settle in? If you need something, just let me know. " " Hello Sam, for the things I am doing right now the tools are enough, but I might need a better furnace in the future. The steel you are mining is pretty good, no special sort of steel, but the quality is more than average." " That is good to hear! Actually, I have found a few materials the last time I entered a dungeon, I wanted to know if you are able to craft something out of them." Sam opened his backpack and took the scales and horns out. Orkans eyes sharpened as he received the materials. " These are horns of a Minotaur and lizarmen scales right? The horns would be perfect for short swords. I am sure the materials will boost the attack massively! These scales are enough for two sets of leg armor. Depending on the wearers size, two sets of upper body armor should be possible too. The armor is really light but extremely resilient. You have to know, that most of the armors which are made of scales are considered light, medium and heavy armor. You can find all sorts of knights, archers and even mages wearing scale armor. Lizard scales are the same, the armor I will craft can be used by every person, regardless of class or occupation." Sam was happily surprised about these news. He ordered two normal sets of upper body armor and the two shortswords Orkan had talked about before he left the store. He opened the guild menu and called Anna. " Hey, I promised you to accept a quest together with you twins, how about we meet in front of the adventurers guild in one hour? " The first quest Anna and Nina happily agreed, therefore Sam made his way towards the adventurer guild. He arrived 50 minutes later, only to see the twins already waiting for him. They waved and shouted for him to hurry up. " Hey you two, you look good. What have you done the last few days and what levels are you at? " Sam smiled and asked the twins when he arrived. "We searched the surroundings after you had disappeared and killed many monsters, even some orc tribesmen, who were Level 13. Finally, yesterday both of us reached Level 12. You guys must have killed a lot of monsters too, I mean we got a share of their experience too right? Linda already told you that we saved Orkan. He got attacked by a group of tribesmen, Nina and I decided to help him and his people out. Also, as you can see we got some new armor! We got it as a gift from Orkan. It is fur of a rare lion and some steel parts made of a material called Platinum. It gives us +10 defense and speed, as well as +5 stamina and accuracy. It is actually a rare equipment!" Anna told him with a energetic voice. Nina smiled and puffed out her chest to show off her new armor. It looked like a short vest. It had no sleeves and the flat, well trained bellies of the twins were exposed. Their chests were protected by a layer of bright colored Platinum. Anna noticed Sam looking at their bellies, she approached Sam, hugged his arm and continued. " While we are at the city you can look at this outfit. There is actually another piece to protect the belly but we take it off as long as we aren''t fighting." Sam kept looking at the well trained body of Nina while nodding. He realized the situation a moment later and hastily averted his eyes. Sam laughed and scratched his head. " Hahaha, how about we enter and look at the available quests? I also want you two to spar against me, so that I can test my new skill." The twins nodded and followed Sam into the guild building. 15 to 20 people sat at the tables inside the building in groups of three to five. They were all adventurers. Sam was surprised to see so many people and after looking around for a few moments he actually concluded that at least three players were mixed in between the people. They still wore sneakers from the former world. Even though they were dirty to the point of being totally black, Sam had been able to see the fading logo.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He ignored it for the time and directly went to the quest board. More than ten sheets were placed on the board. Sam looked at them. Quest: Orc Tribesmen Subjugation Employer: Knights of Valor Description: We, the knights of Valor, need a few strong adventurers to be our scout team for the subjugation of the orc tribe, that tyrannies a huge area, including our Whitewall. The mission will start when ten adventurers of at least the C rank register themselves and come to Whitewall. Members: 0/10 Reward: A set amount of silver for each killed orc, as well as the chance of joining the knights of valor, depending on the performance. 800 guild points Quest: Journey to the south Employer: Merchant Orkan Description: I want to journey to the cities Whitewall and Tomorrowland, to gather information, trading contracts and if possible buisness partners. I have five personal guards and need another five D rank adventurers. Be aware that the adventurers will be tested by my guards. The journey will be dangerous, therefore I don''t want new adventurers without combat experience! The journey will start after the required members register themselves and pass the test. Members: 1/5 Reward: Will be discussed after the passing of the test. 300 guild points Sam looked at the twins and said after pointing at the two sheets " I think these two are the most interesting. The subjugation needs C rank adventurers, which are most likely hard to be found right now. The guilds established themselves not even a week ago! We might be able to participate after we finish the second quest and escort Orkan. I really want to see the other cities and if possible build some friendly relationships. I spoke about it with Orkan before and he told me a few interesting things. What do you guys think?" Sam looked st Anna and her sister. Both of them checked the sheets sometimes shaking their heads. They stopped looking at the board and focused their eyes on Sam. Anna started talking. " Let''s do it as you said." Nina also nodded and said " yeah let''s go." It took them only a few minutes to meet Orkan. " So you have come to participate in the test. Who would have thought the king is a traveller too! Nina, Anna, you two want to escort me as well? I don''t have to test your abilities, I have already seen what you two are capable of. In any case I would really like to see how strong you are Sam. Are you fine with a little test?" Sam smiled and nodded. They went out to the backyard where ten men were doing exercises. Some were doing push-ups and similar exercises while others were sparring with blunt metal weapons. Orkan clapped and ordered his guards to assemble. " Pete, this is Sam, I want you to test his strength but don''t get too aggressive." Orkan picked a man about as tall and big as Sam and send him to the sparring field, a paved area in the backyard. Pete held a shortsword in his big left hand, the right one wasn''t holding a weapon. Sam observed his opponent while making his way to the training field. He decided to use the opportunity and test his new skill, therefore he didn''t pick a weapon. Pete, who was an ugly man with deep scars on his face and foul teeth in his mouth, smiled mockingly and said with a rough voice " I will still fight with a weapon, even though you didn''t pick one. Be aware that injuries can happen, even during a friendly sparring like this! You still want to take the test?" Sam was still smiling when he nodded in response. He was Level 15 after all, how could a simple guard be an opponent for him! bare-handed fighting Sam went to the sparring field and took a karate stance with one arm next to his hip and the other one sideways in front of his chest. '' Crazy feeling, it feels so familiar, even though I never practiced martial arts in the past.'' Sam turned his attention to Pete who had begun to approach Sam. He could see the evil smile on Pete''s face when he started to charge. The sword approached from the left side but Sam used his right hand, which was positioned in front of his chest and tried to hit the sword from below. Sam''s hand missed the sword, resulting in it crashing into his chest. Sam took two steps backwards but wasn''t injured at all. His breast plate was more than enough to block a blunt weapon. '' It seems like my speed and accuracy aren''t enough to pull moves like the one I just tried. I have to use my strength skill and defense while doing martial arts!'' Pete''s smile grew wider, after witnessing his first attack hitting its mark. " Seems like you were too confident, Hahaha! It is too late for regrets, this is where the real test begins! " Pete charged again. He started with a kick to Sam''s mid section, which got blocked by Sam. The sword approached again but this time from overhead. Sam reflexively raised his arm and used it to defend against the steel sword. He only felt a small impact because of his armor and defense stat and used his left arm to punch at Pete. His fist hit the simple breastplate of his opponent and send him staggering backwards a few meters. Sam had used 60% of his strength, resulting in the breastplate getting dented in. He smiled after seeing the damaged armor. Pete on the other hand was furious and also a bit scared. He looked around at the other guards, some laughed and others smiled mockingly but all of them wanted the fight to continue. Pete also looked at Sam, only to see him smiling as well! Pete snapped. " You got lucky! I will show you what real power and experience is! Watch out, so you don''t get hurt! " Orkan, who knew that Sam was the king wanted to stop the fight to avoid unnecessary accidents but Sam looked at him and softly shook his head. Pete went into a rage and charged at Sam again. This time he was wildly swinging his sword while occasionally kicking and punching.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Sam evaded and blocked the wild attacks as much as possible. He got hit several times but his armor protected him from serious injuries. Finally, when an overhead strike approached Sam swung out his arm sideways and knocked the sword out of Pete''s hand. Sam''s hand gripped the wrist of his opponent and locked it like a vise. The other hand opened and flew out to execute a palm strike. Sam used 70% of his strength and successfully hit Pete''s left shoulder. A big dent appeared on the shoulder part of the armor. Pete had lots of cushion between his chest and breastplate, therefore the earlier hit hadn''t been too serious. Now that his shoulder had been attacked the damage was far worse because of the poorly cushioned shoulder parts of the simple armor . Only Sam and Pete were able to hear the cracking sound signaling a broken bone. "Aaaaaahhh! My shoulder! You broke my shoulder!!" Pete screamed in pain and Sam loosened the grip on his wrist. After a minute one of Orkans employees arrived and helped Pete to leave the backyard and see a doctor. All of the guards, Orkan and the twins looked at Sam in surprise. No one had thought that he would be this powerful. Anna and Nina ran over to Sam and hugged him from both sides. " That was awesome! It looked like you didn''t even use your full power! " Anna smiled and said. Nina looked into Sam''s eyes and spoke " All of these guards are Level 11 to Level 13. You didn''t even use a weapon and easily defeated this Pete who actually is Level 13. Say, how strong are you? " Sam was surprised to hear Nina talking so much. She was the calm and quiet type of girl, answering in simple sentences most of the time. " Let''s talk about this later! Hey Orkan, did I pass the test? " Sam asked with a smile, completely ignoring the people staring at him. Orkan came back to his senses. He grinned and said " Naturally you passed this test! Come, let''s go inside and talk a bit! Anna and Nina, you should join us. The rest of you, continue exercising! The strongest five of you will be my personal guard during the journey, you will be able to see new places and experience adventures! The payment will also be a bit better, so I want to see you work your asses off" The guards were still looking at Sam but after hearing Orkans speech they resolved themselves and started exercising even harder than before. Orkan, Sam and the twins went into Orkans office. Orkan started to talk after a maid brought them tea. " First of all, I have to admit I never thought you are such a fierce and powerful fighter! I am glad to have you in the group but are you sure you as the king can leave Blackstone city again? We will be away at least five days, most likely even longer! " " I will just have to prepare a few things beforehand. It is important for us to know our neighbors. After what you said about the cities I have to see them with my own eyes. Maybe I will be able to build some diplomatic relationships, which would be very helpful, also regarding our trade connections. What can you tell me about the first adventurer you hired?" " He is a young warrior who arrived with his family a few days ago. He fights with a strange looking bent sword. His name is Shao and he is a very skillful and quick fighter. About you coming with us, I''m not in the position to argue with you, furthermore I''m happy to have you and the twins with us!" Sam and Orkan talked for another 30 minutes before Sam and the twins left. They would wait for ten more days before leaving for their journey regardless of a fifth adventurer. Sam and the twins slowly walked through Blackstone city while chatting and laughing. They passed " Meat Dreams" and spontaneously decided to enter, order a few plates of meat and relax the rest of the day. continous control Sam woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. " I should use today to improve the city and take a look at Woodchester and Oakhausen. I have to make sure that all our settlements grow as fast as possible, especially during the time I''m gone! I will go and take a look at Lance before leaving the city." Sam decided to save his points until he knew what they needed the most. He dressed himself and left the keep. After entering the smithy Sam immediately was welcomed by one of the blacksmith trainees. He led Sam to the back where Lance was in the process of forging a new sword. Sam got interested and told Lance to finish the sword, so that he could observe the process a bit more. The sword was mostly finished and only needed to be sharpened after half an hour. Lance put it aside and washed his face and arms with a wet towel one of the trainees had brought him. " So, what did you bring here today? I have to make a lot of new weapons for our soldiers, I wasn''t able to craft your items until now." " I''m not here to pressure you, I only came to look how you are doing. How are the trainees and the other blacksmith doing?" " They work hard, and try their best right now. It hasn''t been long since I met them, so I can''t give you more detailed information. I might be able to tell you more about their potential in one or two weeks. For now, with them assisting me, I''m able to create everything that is needed. We might need another forge and more tools in the future. One set isn''t enough for four people to work with!" " Ok, I will prepare the bigger things you need, you should be able to create most of the small things yourself right?" " Yes! I have to finish a few more weapons, after that I will start to make new tools with the others. We need at least for sets of tools, that will be good practice for the trainees." Sam wrote down what he had to prepare for Lance and left his smithy. He called Linda and told her to meet him at the keep later. He told her about him leaving to check on Woodchester and Oakhausen before walking through the gate north gate. He walked the familiar way and observed his surroundings while doing that. Sam passed the destroyed defense post where they had fought before and continued on his way. Eventually he arrived in Woodchester. The guards knew Sam and greeted him respectfully when he passed the gate. A lot of people were busily doing their work on the main street. New houses were being built and young men trained into hunters and craftsmen. Sam went straight to Rudolphs house end entered after getting announced by the guard. " Sam, good to see you! Sorry that we left while you were gone, but a lot of the former villagers really wanted to return and couldn''t wait any longer,so I decided to accompany them and manage the situation. Come, I will show you the village! We are changing a few things to improve Woodchester." Sam nodded and followed Rudolph while conversing with him. They walked through the village and Rudolph showed him what they were building right now.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. With the first delivery of stones they started to slowly build a new wall around the village. They actually build about 20 meters away from the wooden wall, therefore enlarging Woodchester by quite a bit. " With the few carriages and workers we have right now it will take a long time to build this new wall. We have newcomers nearly everyday to be honest. Almost all of them travelled a long time until they reached our village. The places to live here get sparse and I heard the situation in Oakhausen is the same. We don''t have food peoples though, enough wild animals are roaming the surroundings and our hunters do a really good job to kill them." " It is good to hear that the food is enough right now. I will figure something out, concerning the transportation of the materials." Sam noted the problem and continued to follow Rufolph. They passed the smithy where Arthur was working and Sam entered to say hello. " Hey Arthur, how is it going? How is the trainee that I sent doing?" " Hi Sam, it''s great to be back, Marlo is a great help, he is talented and might become a better blacksmith than myself! Woodchester is growing and the tools that are needed become more and more, so this trainee really helps a lot, thank you for that!" " I''m glad to hear that, just let me know when you need something. " Arthur thanked him again before going back to work. Sam also left and continued his tour with Rudolph. They walked on a platform at the side of the wall and looked out on the planes behind the village. A few people were enclosing a herd of cows that were grazing on the fields! " These are cows right? Where did you find them? " Sam was surprised to see these animals. They were a huge source of food and Sam was really eager to find out how to get his hands on more cows. " Our hunters found them on one of their tours. We didn''t find more since then but there are ten male and eight female cows, we should be able to breed them! " " You definitely need to do this! Also, you have to look for more animals, like sheep or pigs. Having different types of stock farming will be really helpful. You should build fences, that will make it easier for you to breed them. That will also need less people to look out for the herd." Rudolph agreed and immediately gave the orders to start the construction. The tour lasted for another hour before they arrived back at Rudolphs house. " I have to go now. There are a lot of things I have to do today, therefore I will leave now. There will be more stone deliveries coming, starting tomorrow. This should help you a lot. If there is anything you need let me know." Sam said goodbye and left towards Oakhausen. He met two zombies on the way, which weren''t dangerous for Sam anymore. He only needed one karate punch to smash their heads. Sam reached Oakhausen, also going directly towards Carl''s house. " Hello Sam, I assume you are here to check on the situation?" Sam smiled and nodded. " Well, I had a lot of conversations with Rudolph during our stay in Blackstone city and both of us agreed on the point that we have to improve the defenses of the villages at the time we reclaim them. That is why I started to build a new defense wall with the stones we acquire now but the problem we have is that we haven''t enough manpower. Most of our men work at the quarry which means we don''t have enough to build the wall. Naturally we can''t use women for a work like this. Rudolph and Carl had the same plan and didn''t waste time to execute them. Besides the quarry there was also a big river to the north-east of Oakhausen. A group of fishermen had been formed which was fishing at the river on a daily basis. They had caught a lot of fish, helping to ease the food problems in Oakhausen but due to monsters still roaming the surroundings, they had to be protected by guards, which left the village with only a handful of experienced fighters while they were gone. Sam also visited the blacksmith and his trainee. He saw the antiquated forge and decided to buy new equipment while he was still in the village. Sam bought the standard equipment a village blacksmith needed, which cost him 150 reward points. With this their work would be a lot easier and faster. They went back to the gate because Sam planned to leave and return home. " So all in all you need more people capable of fighting and more workers to build the wall, right?" Carl nodded and send Sam off, who assured him that he would send the people Oakhausen needed. Sam took a little detour on his way back, so that he could explore a bit more of the surroundings but he didn''t find anything interesting. He directly went into the keep after returning, are a meal and sat down on his throne. He opened the city menu and took out the notes he took during the day. Then he started to think about how he could use his reward points in the most useful way. spies Sam scanned the shop menu many times and calculated what to buy with his remaining reward points. When Sam decided to go to sleep the gate to the throne room opened and Linda entered, he had totally forgotten their meeting. " Hello Sam, what can I do for you?" " I asked you to come because I wanted to inform you about the things going on in Woodchester and Oakhausen." Sam told Linda what he had done during the day and what he planned to do with the reward points. Linda listened and gave her own opinion in the end. " We should not forget to strengthen the defenses of Blackstone city. Our soldiers aren''t really high levelled, there are no more than five soldiers over Level 10, if you exclude the members of "Nightwatch". Linda left after she had told Sam her opinion. He slept afterwards, only to wake up early the next morning. He drank a tea and sat down on his throne to continue his management of the city. " I have to buy new tools for Lance, as well as at least two new carriages with horses. 50 workers and 15 more fighters of Level 5 for Oakhausen should be sufficient. 375 points for the soldiers, 250 points for the workers, 200 points for the equipment and 300 points for carriages and horses. We should be able to breed the horses and build the carriages ourselves in the future, this should be the only time I have to buy them." Sam checked his total reward points again. After his settlements had produced the daily points he had exactly 1.715 points to spend. He went out of the keep and bought the carriages, soldiers and workers first. Sam ordered them to go to the quarry, so they could fill the carriages and transport the first loads of stones to Woodchester. The soldiers and workers who would go to Oakhausen later, could accompany them. Sam went to the smithy afterwards and bought the tools, which Lance required. He returned to the keep after that and checked his remaining points. " I have 590 points remaining. I will spent 300 points on rice and grains, the remaining points will be used to get a few more soldiers. I am not confident in our military strength right now. We need to train our fighters so they rise in their levels and get new skills. Buying high leveled soldiers will be too expensive, Level 5 should be sufficient!" Sam bought another 10 Level 5 soldiers and the food, which left him with 40 reward points. He sent the new soldiers to Lance, to get weapons, thereafter they should go to the training fields. He had only bought two archers, while the remaining men were warriors and knights. Blackstone City had more archers than melee fighters, which wasn''t really reassuring.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Sam contacted Kain and told him to look after the new warriors and help them with their exercises before he got back to talking to himself. " We have to organize parties, which explore the surroundings and kill the stray monsters. If I put one or two experienced fighters together with a few inexperienced ones, they should be able to level up more easily." Sam looked at the city stats and realized that two more new stores had opened. One specialized in shoes, especially for workers. The second store sold mostly gear and equipment for hunters. Sam was surprised. " The owners of these businesses saw what was needed the most and used the timing to open the right stores, really clever! I should take a look at these stores and their owners. I totally forgot the players in the adventurers guild! I should check what kind of people they are right now! They might be spies." Sam, who had spent all of his reward points decided to visit the guild and look for the players. It was still early and only a few people sat inside the guild. Sam spotted a man who seemed familiar and approached him. It was a tall man with short hair. Sam believed him to be one of the players even though he wore armored boots now. " Hello, do you mind if I sit down? I don''t know many people here." " I am waiting for a friend, so I don''t have time talk with you." The man answered, Sam however felt something wrong. The accent of this man seemed familiar. Sam thought for a moment before realizing it. Russian! Sam frowned for a second before smiling again. " No problem, I will wait with you!" Sam played naive and grabbed the chair to sit down at the man''s table. " Fuck off!! Who do you think you are? I told you I don''t have time! Fuck off now or I will smash your head! Do you know who you are talking to? I''m Level 13! I will kick your ass, you fucking noob!" The man stood up and slammed the table,while shouting at Sam, who was stunned about the unexpected rage directed at him. At this moment another person entered the guild building. This man looked similar to the raging player but he seemed to be a bit more calm. " I don''t know what happened, but I am sorry for my comrade''s behavior and I would be thankful, if you could leave us alone!" Sam frowned again but quickly recovered and smiled at the man who had spoken to him. The newcomer had the same Russian accent as the other man! " I''m not sure what exactly happened myself...I will take my leave." Sam turned around and started to walk out of the adventurers guild. He heard the unfriendly man talking to his comrade before stepping out of the building. " If we were in Bloodhaven i would have killed that little shit!" " Calm down you idiot!" They started to whisper after that, nevertheless Sam had heard enough. He left the guild and called all of his guild members. He arranged a meeting in the keep and returned immediately. Inside the conference room of the keep. Sam, the twins, Linda, Kain, Jack and Nissa sat around a table. Sam had informed them about his encounter in the guild. " They are clearly here as spies. Bloodhaven is the city Ivan governs. I will tell you right now, I won''t show mercy to Ivan and his people! I am pretty sure there are a total of three spies in Blackstone city and I will make sure that none of them returns to inform Ivan about our city. I want you guys to separately stay inside the guild and oversee their actions. These people are former mercenaries, and especially the one who raged earlier seems to be a person who needs to vent his anger frequently. Sooner or later they will accept a quest to have some action, when this happens you have to inform me immediately!" All of the people present looked at Sam with different expressions. Nissa was the first to open her mouth and ask a question. " You want to kill them while they are outside the city to absolve a quest?" sparring Sam looked into Nissas eyes before looking at the others. " We have to kill them! Our forces right now are way too weak, if they get the opportunity to leave the city after obtaining important informations, they will convey these to Ivan. I believe their group is still more powerful than we are, what means, that Ivan will most likely attack us after knowing our weak points. Right now, we and all of our soldiers have to get stronger! I also hope to build some relationships with the other cities, an alliance if possible." After listening to Sam, Linda was the first one to ask a question. " Why do you visit the cities as an adventurer? Why don''t you officially announce yourself as the king of a nearby city and ask for a meeting?" " I have to check the cities and people that are living there. I don''t want to collaborate with a group that is as ruthless as Ivan''s group. Fortunately, Orkan didn''t reveal my identity to his guards, I will remind him to keep this a secret. The best way to enter the city and learn about it is to go as an adventurer." Jack was the next one to speak up. " I understand your logic regarding this but what is the plan for Blackstone city while you are gone?" " I want you to train our archers. Nissa will be responsible for our number one food source, the hunters. Kain trains the warriors and to some extent the knights. Nina and Anna will go together with me and lastly Linda will be the vice leader and take control of the overall management. Regarding the spies, I will make sure to dispose of them before I leave the city." The meeting continued for another hour, then the members dispersed. Sam halted Anna and Nina. " Hey you two, do you have plans today? How about we spar for a bit? I really want to improve my martial arts, who knows what awaits us during our journey."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The twins happily agreed and together they went to the backyard of the keep where a small training field was located. They started with judo and karate practices. Anna and Nina corrected Sam''s stances and basic attacks until they were satisfied with the execution of the movements. Sam learnt a few throws, as well as kicks and punches in only the few hours. Thereafter they started the sparring. Anna and Nina fought Sam separately while the other one gave tips and pointed out the mistakes he was still making. They trained and sparred for more than eight hours and actually had a lot of body contact, especially during the judo practices. Sam and the twins slowly l but surely became more intimate. They decided to end the day by eating at " Meat Dreams " again. Sam passed the following three days doing mostly the same. He trained with the twins for a couple of hours, before he took a group of Blackstone city soldiers and explored the surroundings. They killed smaller monster groups and even defeated a Level 10 boss monster. With Sam helping in dangerous situations, a knight had gathered his courage and stabbed the monster, rising to Level 10. The twins were also leading small groups into different directions and made them experience face-to-face battles with monsters like orcs or zombies. Four days after Sam had discovered the spies, Blackstone city had three more Level 10 soldiers, an archer, a warrior and a knight. Sam sat on his throne eating his breakfast while checking the city''s stats. Sam finished his breakfast and wanted to call the twins, when Nissa entered the throne room, followed by Jack. She held two letters in her hands. " Good Morning Sam, a Messenger arrived a moment ago and handed me these two letters. He was badly injured but managed to tell me that he had been attacked by desert bandits who crossed his way. Three arrows had hit him but thankfully, the horse wasn''t hit and brought him here. Sam, we have to stop them, the messenger spoke from 30 to 40 bandits, riding on camels, and armed to the teeth! They will most likely spot Woodchester next and with the few soldiers stationed there, it will be difficult to hold the village." Sam nodded. " You two, we need 20 people, a few from "Nightwatch" and soldiers who are at least Level 9. Gather them and notify me when you are ready, we will kill these bandits as soon as possible!" Jack and Nissa left immediately while Sam opened the city menu and decided to buy a few more horses with the reward points the city had produced. Sam and most of " Nightwatch" didn''t know how to ride, but most of the NPC''s knew it and therefore Sam decided to buy some more horses. Sam bought them in front of the keep and ordered the servants to prepare them for the journey. He himself visited Lance to get a new shield. Against enemies who were shooting arrows, he wasn''t confident to go against them without a shield. " Hello Lance, I need a new shield, if possible nothing too small. Do you have something suitable?" "Hello! Good that you are here. I finished the two shortswords yesterday. I have to say they are really special. Lance showed Sam the two brown shortswords, which had been carved out of the Minotaur horns. Sam checked their stats and was positively surprised. (Mysterious Minotaur Shortsword -> Attack + 40 health +10 stamina + ? ) desert bandits Sam held the two swords and examined them from all angles. They were slightly curved with razor sharp blades. He had Anna and Nina in his mind while he had ordered these weapons, intending on giving them to the twins as gifts. Lance searched through his shelves and took out two shields. A round one and a Roman looking shield. They were simple steel equipment but still very well made. " You are the king, I will give you one of them for free but from here on you will have to pay like all the other customers, I need money like everyone else needs it!" Sam nodded in understanding. He checked the two shields which had nearly the same stats and chose the Roman looking one because it protected a much bigger surface. Lance informed him that he would need at least three more days to finish the scale armor, before Sam left the smithy. Sam returned to the parade ground in front of the keep. Around 15 people were already present, checking their equipment while talking to each other. Sam looked at the four knights, four warriors, four archers, Kain and the twins. Servants saddled 12 horses, preparing them for the journey. Sam approched the twins and kissed them on the cheeks. " Great to have you two here! I have a surprise for the both of you." Sam opened his backpack and took out the sheathed shortswords handing them to the sisters with a big smile. Anna and Nina jumped in surprise and hugged Sam to thank him. Their eyes got even wider after checking the crazy stats of the weapons. They exchanged their plain metal shortswords with the new ones, Sam had gifted them and started to do some practice swings. Kain approached Sam afterwards. " Nissa will join us too, she left to get another three archers, with them our group will be complete. It is very important for her to protect Woodchester and the people living there!" " That''s good! Please make sure everyone is ready to depart. We have 12 horses, therefore we need eight pairs to share a horse. " Sam also told him that the twins and he couldn''t ride horses and needed to be paired with people who were able to.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Nissa arrived five minutes later. She brought three archers and a few more quivers filled with arrows, as she approached Sam. " Hey Sam, we are ready to go!" " Ok! Everybody get on your horses, we leave right now! Our destination is Woodchester." All of the members mounted their horses and left the city through the north gate. Fortunately, they arrived in time and safely entered Woodchester. Rudolph came out of his house and welcomed Sam and his group. " Hello Sam, what are you doing here, with a group like this? I wrote you that we are doing fine, not that we need reinforcements." " We don''t have much time, tell the villagers to retreat inside their houses! Bandits are approaching our position! " Rudolph became agitated and immediately ordered the surrounding people to alarm the other villagers and convey these orders. He also told the soldiers stationed in the village to gather in front of the gate and wait for Sam''s orders. Five minutes later, exactly 36 men and women, armed with bows and melee weapons, stood in front of the gate. Sam stepped in front of them and explained the situation. " Woodchester is in great danger, a big group of mounted bandits is approaching us and we don''t know what they plan on doing! What we know right now is, that they attacked one of our messengers without a reason and nearly killed him. Thanks to him we know that the bandits are approaching Woodchester and were able to send reinforcements in time." The Woodchester soldiers had panicked expressions on their faces. Most of them were only Level 5 to Level 7, without much experience in life or death battles. Sam and Nissa organized the soldiers on top of the wall and gate, as well as a group of knights and warriors directly behind the gate. Sam took a spot on top of the gate and waited for the bandits to appear. About ten minutes later the first bandits riding their camels exited the forest and took formation around 100 meters away from the village walls. The bandits mostly wore white coats, as well as white clothes around their heads. Some others wore short leather armor which exposed their brown skin. They wielded curved sabres and short bows while a few held quivers filled with javelins. Finally, more than 40 riders stood in front of Woodchester, staring at the defenders. One particular person stepped forward. He was the only enemy wearing steel armor, even though it was only a breastplate. Excluding this piece of armor, he only wore simple clothes. This person, who seemed to be the leader also wielded a strange looking spear. The handle was made of simple steel but the tip curved and somehow looked like the sting of a scorpion. His other hand held a round shield with the picture of a scorpion carved into it. " I will give you filthy peasants one chance to open the door and give us everything useful you have inside your village. Otherwise, we won''t spare a single one of you, it doesn''t matter if they are children, women or seniors, everyone of you will pay the price of offending us, the Red Scorpion Tribe! " Sam could see that some of the soldiers were trembling after seeing the enemies but he ignored them and answered the enemy leader. " I don''t know who you are or why you are attacking us but I will make it clear now, fuck off or I will make sure that not one of your men will return to their homes!" " Hahahahaha, it has been a long time since someone talked to me like this, actually I killed everyone who dared to disrespect me like this! I will give you five more minutes before we will start to erase this piece of trash you are calling village!" The leader turned around and walked back to his comrades. holding their ground Not even three minutes later, two enemies rode forward with something in their hands. Sam could see them carrying flasks and immediately ordered the archers to shoot them. Unfortunately, they were inexperienced and had difficulties with hitting moving targets. Nissa was the only archer to be successful. One rider fell off his camel with an arrow pierced in his heart. The camel hurriedly ran back to the tribe warriors. Finally, the remaining rider seemed to have reached a distance for a successful throw. A flask flew through the air and shattered after hitting the wooden gate. Black liquid splashed on the gate. Next up, three new riders made their way towards the gate with torches in their hands. " That must be oil! Quickly, shoot the riders! They will burn down the gate if they incinerate the oil! " The archers madly shot their arrows hitting the enemies mounts multiple times, however they were tough and still managed to take their riders to incinerate the oil before retreating. " Get away from the gate! Close combatants form a line five meter away! Archers to the back!" The gate slowly started to burn, therefore Sam ordered his soldiers to leave the gates and regroup behind them. " They were willing to sacrifice themselves in order to enter this village! We have to be careful." Sam took a look at his comrades. In the foremost line stood the knights everyone of them held a shield and a spear. Behind them were the warriors with their two handed weapons, as well as the twins. Nissa ordered the archers to take positions on the rooftops of the surrounding houses to support the melee fighters. Sam stood at the foremost position, waiting for the moment the gate couldn''t hold any longer. It took a while but finally the gate crashed and the tribe soldiers started advancing. Sam grabbed a long spear and his shield and positioned himself in the middle of the knights. At the moment the first enemies entered through the gate the 18 defending archers started to shoot arrows. Sam and his fellow knights stepped forward and used the width of the gate to defend the village. Only four camel riders were able to enter at the same time, which made it easier for Sam and the other melee fighters to stop them. The knights stabbed with their spears, trying to push the riders off their mounts. Arrows were flying over their heads but the attackers used their ranged weapons as well. Multiple javelins were thrown at Sam and his men. He saw a young knight getting stabbed through the eye by a javelin, dying on the spot. A warrior with light armor tried to take over the knight''s spot, only to get hit immediately. His chainmail was not enough to block the incoming weapons, resulting in a deep shoulder wound.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Sam saw the chaos and stepped forward to attack himself. He used his full strength and struck an incoming rider. The force behind Sam''s attack shattered the spear he held but also send the rider flying off his camel. Nina, who had stayed behind the knights sprinted next to the fallen rider and used a swift movement to cut his throat with her shortsword. She immediately returned behind the knights before she could get surrounded. A handful of riders were lying on the ground around ten meters in front of the gate. Most of them were dead or heavily injured after getting struck by a volley of arrows from the defenders. The battle behind the gate intensified and more soldiers started to fall to the ground. A few riders decided to attack the archers and threw their javelins at them. The surprised archers didn''t have the time to evade, resulting in two of them getting killed. Anna and Nina had started to run in between the enemies and attack the legs of their mounts. Their strategy worked and the attackers slowed down or completely stopped after their mounts fell down. More attackers filled the space in front of the gate but couldn''t do much because of the strong defense line of Sam and his fellow knights. The fight lasted for more than ten minutes before a horn was blown outside the village. It was a retreat signal of the enemy forces. The riders turned their camels and retreated to the place their leader was still standing. The fallen riders tried to retreat too but were shot down or assassinated by the twins. Sam looked at his soldiers after all the enemies had retreated. Three archers had been impaled and killed by javelins. They had also lost two knights and two warriors, however the enemy had a lot more casualties. 15 riders had been killed in the earlier clash. Actually most of them died by the hands of Anna and Nina. They used the moment after the riders had fallen of their mounts and killed them before they had the opportunity to stand up. Like this the first clash came to an end. Sam climbed the wall and looked outside at the enemy army. Only 30 men remained while Sam had 25 soldiers who were able to fight. The leader shouted again. " You won''t be able to win in an open field battle, therefore you can''t leave your village. What are you doing now? " The man seemed to mock Sam, who only responded with a smile. He decided to gamble and called Linda. " I need you to help me out! Take Jack and 15 more men and come to Woodchester as quick as possible. If you hurry up you might be here in 30 minutes. We have a group of enemy riders attacking us here and I don''t want them to flee and return with more men. Go through the forest and try to get behind the enemies. Contact me when you are ready. We will charge out of the village and attack them from the front and the back!" Linda ended the call to gather the soldiers as fast as possible. Sam wanted to stall the enemy and stop them from leaving, so he decided to taunt them. " The question is what you want to do. We kicked your asses a moment ago, are you running away now?" His provocation worked and agitated his enemies, especially the leader, who countered with a speech of his own. Sam used the time to convey his plan to Kain, Nissa and the twins. While he argued with the enemy leader his men prepared their counterattack. 40 minutes later Sam got a call from Linda. " We are here. The enemies are right in front of us." " Ok, stay there and wait for my signal. I will pretend to lose my composure and charge outside." Sam ended the call and continued the exchange of provocations but this time he seemed to get more and more angry, to the point where he actually charged out of the city together with his remaining soldiers. The leader of the enemies laughed and was about to let his men charge, when a massive lightning strike hit the left flank of his riders. One of them died instantly and two others fell down their camels while trembling. The leader turned around only to see a volley of arrows and a small group of melee fighters coming out of the forest. The archers in Sam''s group also returned to firing their arrows while the melee fighters moved closer. Finally, the archers on both sides stopped their fire and the close combatants engaged in battle. Red Scorpion Tribe The defending forces had whittled down the tribesmen to only 20 soldiers before even engaging in melee fights. Sam used his charging speed and rammed shield first into a camel and its rider. The other knights and warriors did the same, engaging in a turbulent battle. A majority of the tribesmen had to dismount and fight on the ground while the camels ran away. Sam went towards the closest enemy and delivered a running kick to his chest. He followed with a punch to his face, which hit him to the ground. The soldier was shocked because of Sam''s power but before he could stand up or defend himself Sam already stood above him and smashed his shield downwards. *Crack* The soldiers head shattered under Sam''s enormous strength. Sam looked around for his next opponent. He saw the twins, who were evading, blocking and attacking in all directions.Kain fought a burly man with a big two handed saber while the remaining soldiers faced their own respective opponents. One of Sam''s warriors got stabbed by the enemy leader in the chest. After the speartip had left the warriors body, he started to scream horribly and died shortly afterwards. Sam ran over to engage the enemy leader before he got the chance to kill another one of Sam''s people. Sam stood next to the corpse of the warrior and took a look at him. The wounded flesh had partially turned black as if burnt by fire or corroded with acid. '' This weapon deals extra damage! It will be extremely painful if I get hit by this spear. '' Sam and the leader looked at each other for a moment before they both charged at each other at the same time. The spear swiftly stabbed forward but Sam intercepted with his shield before kicking at the leaders leg. He evaded by jumping backwards, only to rush forward again! Sam spun his torso to evade the weapon again, then used his free hand to grab the handle. He felt something off, however he thrust his shield forward and bashed it against his enemies shoulder. Sam noticed at this moment that his hand began to hurt badly. He loosened his grip at the same moment his shield made contact with the leaders shoulder, therefore pushing the enemy away. He crashed on the ground but stood up a few moments later. His shoulder was dislocated, his face pale and after seeing one of his men getting pieced by an ice spear he resolved himself and ran! Sam at this moment had no time to look at the enemy. He looked at the hand which had held the spear and saw the burnt skin on his palm. He had worn gloves but the acid had simply burnt through them and arrived on his bare skin! Sam knelt down and rubbed his hand against the ground to get, whatever was the cause of this injury, off.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He frowned and silently groaned in pain. After wiping his palm a few times it stopped getting worse but Sam could see his finger bones at two places which had been burnt really badly. Sam stood up and looked around. Only a handful of tribesmen were still fighting, the rest had been killed or critically injured during the fight. After watching for the enemy closest to him, Sam approched the saber wielding man and knocked him out from behind. He told two nearby archers to bind his hands and bring him into Woodchester. Then he helped to kill the remaining survivors. Linda approched after the battle and gave Sam a potion to heal his hand which he immediately started to apply. " This injury looks horrible! What caused it?" " I fought their leader, he uses a spear which emits acid or something similar. It burnt through my glove and flesh in only a few seconds! Unfortunately he got away." Kain came over and reported to Sam and Linda. " A total of 12 men died, five are unable to fight because of their injuries and eight more sustained light injuries. In total we killed 44 of these tribesmen." Sam nodded. " Killing so many with only this few losses is really fortunate, even though I could do with no dead men at all! Bring the injured inside Woodchester, we don''t have to use portions if their injuries aren''t too bad! The remaining soldiers should loot the corpses! We will burn the tribesmen afterwards and bury our men on the graveyard." Kain and Linda nodded and left to give orders. Sam looked around for the twins. They were coming right to him with two bags filled with loot over their shoulders. When they arrived, they looked at his still healing hand with worried expressions but Sam smiled and assured them that he was fine. " More importantly, did you find some good stuff?" Sam pointed at the two bags. " There are some containers with different substances, weapons and some pieces of armor. Here, take these gloves, you need a new pair and these should be a good replacement." ( Advanced Chitin Gloves -> defense +10 stamina +5 speed +5 ) Sam thankfully accepted the pair of gloves and bent forward to kiss Anna on the cheek. However, she turned her head and actually kissed Sam on the lips. He froze and only came back to his senses after Anna pulled her head back. Sam''s face was bright red and in the next moment Nina came over and kissed his lips as well. She smiled with a red face before taking Anna''s hand and going back to Woodchester. The twins had already entered through the gate but Sam was still standing on the same position. He knew that something was going on between himself and the twins, however his first two kisses still came by surprise. Sam wanted to be the one to take the initiative but he wasn''t experienced at all regarding relationships with the other gender. Sam thought about their outfits and alluring bodies and his face got even redder. '' I would never have thought to have something with women like them. This game changed everything, I have to fight for what I have right now, otherwise it will all be taken away in the future!'' Sam swore himself to get stronger to protect everything important to him, which naturally included the twins, his friends and his kingdom. Afterwards he went back to Woodchester too. He told Nissa to choose a few soldiers who would stay in the village. He himself planned to leave and go back to Blackstone city after resting for two hours. Sam used the break and visited Rudolph again. He wanted to discuss his new plans with him. " Unfortunately their leader successfully fled. That means we have to prepare for another attack. We don''t know how much soldiers they have, but there will surely be more next time! We will focus on Woodchester for now. I will organize more carriages and workers, as well as new soldiers to defend this place. We have to fortify and strengthen Woodchester!" Nissa and Jack entered at this moment. " Hey Sam, I talked to Nissa and she really wants to stay here and help with managing and defending this place. I would like to stay here with her!" recruitment Sam listened to Jack and Nissa for some time, while they were telling him their plans. He knew that both of them had a relationship and liked each other a lot, therefore he didn''t want to make it harder for them than necessary. Additionally, he was happy to have strong people, who he could trust inside Woodchester. He agreed with them and assured them that he would send more soldiers as soon as possible. Sam went to gather the people who would go back with them and departed one hour later. He and his group reached their hometown without anything happening and Sam directly went to the keep. He wanted to check his reward points and invest them right away. His eyes widened when he saw 1.155 points on his account. " How is this possible? I used nearly all my points before leaving, I got more than 1000 points in not even one day!" Sam opened an information window that showed him the number of points earned and for what reason he got them. After skipping through the list, Sam found the entry he had looked for. ( Rewarded 1000 points for successfully defending village Woodchester ) Sam tapped the entry and got more detailed information, like the names and classes of his soldiers that had participated in the battle, as well as the levels of the enemy soldiers and number of points earned for killing each of them. Sam had talked to Linda before and both of them were sure, that the Red Scorpion Tribe will show up again sooner or later. Therefore Sam decided to spend his points to buy new soldiers. He used 100 points and bought ten Level 2 assassins. He made sure that they were all females. " The chemistry between them and the twins should be better like this. I also think it is easier for women to enter cities and approach potential targets." Sam tried to convince himself but he was clear about him being worried of other males getting too close to his women. The appearance settings were random, however five of the ten new assassins were beautiful in different kinds of ways. The others weren''t ugly either, but they couldn''t be compared to the five beauties. Sam brought them to the field behind the keep, where Anna and Nina were practicing martial arts. " Anna, Nina, I need you two to do me a favor! I would like you to train these ten assassins until we leave with Orkan. If you can get them all on Level 5, that would be awesome." The twins smiled at him and went on to grab his arms. " Do we have to start today?" " We only came back one hour ago, how about we start tomorrow morning?"The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Sam stroked their silky hair while nodding. " That is ok, you two should relax for the rest of the day." The twins took the new recruits to show them the city. Sam remained alone on the field. He opened the menu and continued with buying 15 archers, 20 knights and 15 warriors on Level 2. It cost him 500 points in total. After spending 600 points on archers and melee fighters, Sam decided to spend another 100 points, obtaining four Level 5 mages for 25 points each. He ordered the soldiers to show them the training areas and informed Linda to arrange some places to live for them. " They won''t need their own houses for now. I am planning to send most of them to Woodchester and Oakhausen after leveling them up a bit!" He was left with a bit more than 400 points which he used to buy a few more horses and horse breeders. Sam gave them a field and ordered a few workers to help them with building stables. After doing all of that, Sam returned to the keep. He was totally exhausted and immediately went to sleep after quickly washing himself. Sam woke up after sleeping nearly 12 hours. He called Linda who reported the newest happenings. " Anna and her group of assassins are currently fighting a Level 10 orc boss in the woods. They aren''t in danger and won''t have problems with killing it. Nina has also left early this morning with her own group of assassins. They told me they want to get them all to Level 10 before leaving the city in a few days!" Sam laughed. " Anna and Nina are both really strong. They will injure the bosses and let one of their group members kill it. Their stats will rise quickly, however they won''t experience real life and death fights. You guys have to make sure all of our soldiers go out and fight against zombies, orcs and other monsters. They have to get stronger and know how to fight against different kinds of enemies. We have to send reinforcements to Woodchester soon and I don''t want them to be Level 2 soldiers who aren''t really helpful in fights against the Red Scorpion Tribe. Try to get them to at least Level 7. When they all reach that level, you will send them to Woodchester. I hope nothing serious happens while I am away but I have to go and befriend the rulers of the other cities." " I know. It is necessary for us to have friends in our surroundings. I just got the message that one of the teams, patrolling the surroundings, found a Level 15 boss monster! They fled and just arrived back in Blackstone city." Sam was surprised. The only Level 15 boss they had seen so far was the dungeon boss Drogan, therefore Sam was surprised to hear one of them being nearby. " So, what is your current level?" Linda smiled proudly while stemming her arms against her waist. " I''m Level 14! I have been killing monsters in my free time, sometimes together with the twins. I have waited for a Level 15 boss to appear." " Great, then let''s go and kill that monster! You should be the next one to level up. I need a strong person to take my place while I''m gone!" Linda was happy to get the chance of reaching Level 15, so they both agreed to meet at the east gate and enter the forest together. The soldiers who had returned, told them about a one eyed giant, who was clubbing ogers and animals inside the forest. It was on a rampage, killing and destroying everything in its way. " If it is inside this forest, we really have to kill it, otherwise it might actually attack our farmers in the future. It is simply to close to Blackstone city." Sam was talking to Linda on their way to the forest. They created a strategy and silently entered the cover of the trees, listening for sounds of battle. After they had walked about 500 meters they could hear faint sounds. They followed them and soon could clearly hear the sounds of something big hitting some other big thing. The sounds became louder and louder until Linda and Sam could finally see the boss monster. A four meter tall cyclops was in the middle of killing a group of three ogers. The cyclops held a big club, with spikes attached to it and smashed it on the ogers laying on the ground. On of the ogers heads had been smashed into nothingness while the others were in the process of getting killed. Sam and Linda who were hiding in the bushes stood up to get a better view, when the cyclops turned around and focused his eye on the two of them. random quest " Now or never! We won''t be able to run away from it, let''s kill it and level you up to 15! I will face it and try to deal some damage, while you attack it from the rear." Sam held a Roman shield and an ordinary steel spear, not really appropriate for an enemy like the cyclops. However, Sam stepped forward with a tense expression and placed the shield in front of his body. The cyclops raged and roared while spit was flying everywhere. It lifted the club and ran towards Sam. The ground trembled but Sam still stood firmly, in a deep stance. Linda was terrified as she stood in the rear. Even though she had fought and killed a lot of different horrible monsters, she had never seen a creature as big and monstrous as the cyclops. When the monster tensed its arm muscles and started to swing the club downwards, Linda raised her staff and shot her lightning spear. Sam jumped aside and evaded the club, but fell because of the massive impact and trembling ground. The lightning spear had hit the shoulder area of the cyclops at the same moment the club smashed on the ground and successfully paralyzed it for a moment. Sam witnessed that and took the chance to stab the side of the unmoving enemies knee. He also punched with his shield and distanced himself before the cyclops could move again. " Its defense is insane, my attacks did nearly no damage! If I''m correct, it''s weakness is the eye. I will be the bait and you attack it with your lightning spell, when it is unprepared!" Linda put herself together after hearing Sam talk to her and got ready to launch her spell at any time. The paralysis wore off and the cyclops began to move again. It''s only eye looked at Linda with anger. It lifted the club and approached the mage to smash her into meat paste. " Look out!! Back off immediately and wait for an opportunity! " Sam shouted and went to intercept the boss monster. He waited for the club to crash into the ground, far away from where Linda had run off to and attacked the hand, which held the massive weapon. He rammed his shield on the back of the hand and followed with a thrust of his spear. The whole tip penetrated the flesh but the shaft shattered shortly afterwards because of the force that had to be used. The cyclops frowned and used his free hand to slap Sam like a fly. However Sam predicted that move and lay flat on the ground to evade the incoming hand. Sam felt the hand passing his position and jumped up to attack again. Unfortunately the cyclops was annoyed by Sam''s actions and kicked at him. Luckily, Sam was able to place the shield in front of his body, before the foot arrived and sent him flying.Stolen story; please report. The impact was massive and dented the shield to the point where it couldn''t be used anymore. Sam crashed on the floor multiple times before he came to a stop. One of his arms had a big wound and was bleeding a lot and he had cuts and bruises everywhere. The cyclops approached Sam to finally end his life but before it could even lift the club, a lightning spell arrived and directly hit the eye of the boss monster. The cyclops screamed and let go of its club to cover the massively bleeding wound. Huge amounts of blood were coming out of the destroyed eye until the cyclops screamed a last time and died. Linda smiled after getting her Level up notification and actually approached Sam to give him a quick hug and to thank him before she remembered his wounds and handed him a potion. " No problem, it is good for everyone in Blackstone city, if a person like you is a Level 15! It will give the citizens confidence while I am away and it will also make me much more confident." Sam smiled at her and gestured her to return to the city. They walked side by side and talked about different topics while laughing. They didn''t pay attention to the surroundings, until faint noises of screaming could be heard. Sam and Linda looked at each other, nodded and ran into the direction the sounds were coming from. The screams this time weren''t from a cyclops but multiple humans and other creatures. Sam ran in front, therefore was the first one to see what was going on. A group of about 100 humans were fighting a big horde of zombies and skeletons in the forest. Sam could see 40 women and children who got protected by the surrounding men. There were mostly knights with shields, as well as spears and maces. They didn''t have any warriors, archers or assassins, but a group of 15 mages were shooting magic in every direction. There were fireballs, ice cones, lightning attacks, however the most outstanding man wore a white cloak and a staff made of white wood. He shot bright balls of magic which turned the skeletons and zombies into dust. In between his attacks he shouted to motivate his soldiers. " These creatures are nothing compared to us Brightstar mercenaries! We will keep fighting until there are no more monsters to block our path and then we will find a nice place for us to live! " His men roared, however there were arriving more and more monsters, making the situation worse. Sam was sure about this situation being a quest, therefore he decided to help them escape to Blackstone city and let them stay there. Linda thought the same and so they quickly made a plan. They would open a path for them to directly run to the city without having to kill all of the monster first. Linda could only use her lightning spear at this moment but Sam was mostly healed and ready to fight again. He ran forward and exploded a zombies head with one straight punch. A roundhouse kick followed, which smashed a skeleton. A lightning spear passed Sam and killed another zombie. " Heeeey!! Come over here, our city is nearby you will be safe there!" Sam shouted at the mercenary group. They looked at him, then at their leader, who seemed to think for a moment before nodding and giving orders to his people. The knights made a defensive line at the rest of the group to protect them from the monsters. Sam told Linda to lead the group while he made his way to the rear and helped to defend the group. He and the remaining knights fought while slowly retreating and buying time for the mages and non fighters. The enemies kept coming out of the woods and attacking Sam and the group of knights, however they held their formation with a lot of help from Sam. He ran along the formation and jumped forward when a part of it seemed to break. He smashed the enemies without any weapons, making it look like child''s play for the other knights. After what seemed like hours, reinforcements arrived. Anna, Nina, Kain and a big group of archers arrived behind Sam and the knights. A hail of arrows showered the enemies in front of Sam, buying him and the others time to turn around and retreat. The undead were slowly following them. They arrived at the gates a few minutes later. Sam immediately gave orders to the guards. " Inform all of our soldiers to come here as fast as possible. A horde of monsters is approaching us. I''m not sure about their numbers, therefore I want all of them to assemble right now!" The guards nodded and left quickly while Sam and the soldiers present closed the gate and climbed the walls to wait for the arrival of the horde. successful defense Sam and his soldiers, as well as the Brightstar mercenaries stood atop the walls and looked at the forest to the east. All of them were looking for monsters inside the forest with tense expressions, no one knew the exact number of enemies after all. A Level 11 archer was the first one to notice zombies staggering out of the forest. He yelled and pointed at the undead until the others noticed them as well. " Wait for them to completely leave the forest, we need to know how many monsters are wandering through the woods! " Sam shouted his orders before he continued to wait for the enemies to exit the forest. More and more zombies and skeletons approched the walls and the smell of rotten flesh started to fill the air. The stench intensified with every step the undead took, to the point where a few soldiers had to vomit because they couldn''t take it anymore. The first zombies had already reached the walls and started to scratch it, but there were still enemies coming out of the forest. The mass of undead slowly surrounded the walls and attacked it from all sides, however their attacks were useless against it. A young archer on the side was shaking when he loudly stated " These must be more than 1.000 zombies and skeletons, how the hell are we supposed to fight them?" Many more soldiers started to ask questions and lose composure, except a few veterans and the majority of the mercenary group. Sam was calmly watching the monster army while thinking about a plan. '' This will be a tough fight but the rewards should be special too! The question is how to fight them without too much casualties?'' Sam looked at the archers, however they weren''t nearly enough to handle an army like that. Sam looked down at the space behind the gate he was standing on. A few soldiers and civilians were busily running around, but what caught Sam''s eyes was the carriage, which had been loaded with black stones. Sam''s expression brightened for a second, then he began to give orders. " Go and get all of the civilians who are able to lift at least 25 kilograms. We have to organize a chain from the quarry to this gate and transport the stones as fast as possible! Also get a few people to drive the available carriages and load them with stones as well! We will use the stones and smash the heads of the undead down there!" Sam pointed down the wall, where the zombies were still scratching the stones. Most of the soldiers understood and began to move the stones from the carriage up the wall. Linda also decided to give some orders. " All of the mages come to me!Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. We will first use our magic before helping them carry the stones. We will shoot one after another. Use your strongest spells to attack tightly packed groups, this way we will be able to kill a lot of them before running out of mana or spells!" The mercenary mages and their leader had also decided to tag along and agreed with Linda''s plan. Like this, all of the mages activated their spells one at a time while the remaining soldiers carried stones and organized the chain to the quarry. 20 minutes later, all of the mages had used up their spells. By this time the chain was already working and constantly transported stones to the wall. Sam had also helped carrying the stones, he had superhuman strength after all. He returned to the gate and chose a few soldiers to throw the stones over the wall. Sam himself easily took a big black stone of at least 20 kilograms in one of his hands and let it fall down on a half decayed zombie right below him. *Crack* The stone perfectly hit the zombies head and made it disappear. The stone took the old position of its head and embedded itself deep inside the remaining flesh. Blood splattered everywhere, before the zombie fell down motionless, with the stone still stuck between the shoulders. Sam smiled and looked around at his men on the wall. " Did you see that? We will smash every single one of them! This is our city and we will defend with our lives! Now pick up your stones and FUCK THEM UP!!!" ""YEEEEAAAHHH"" The soldiers roared and began to let the stones rain down the wall. The citizens and soldiers near the wall couldn''t see what was happening outside, they were more occupied with carrying stones, however they could still hear the horrible sounds of bones breaking and blood splattering. Again, a few people with weak stomachs vomited but soon they returned to work. This continued for a couple of hours, until the sky turned dark and Sam stopped his people. " We will stop for now. We won''t be able to see the enemies at night. I need a few guards for the night, everyone else can leave and rest for now. Tomorrow at dawn we will have to start again. We won''t be able to leave the city with this horde around, therefore I''m planning to kill them all and don''t let a single one leave!" A few archers stayed on top of the walls, the other people returned to their homes and went to sleep. They were exhausted and needed the few hours of sleep before defending the city again. When Sam returned to the east on the next morning, the chain of people were already in the process of carrying stones and dropping them on a big pile besides the gate. Sam greeted and climbed the walls to get a view of the situation outside. There were still a lot of undead roaming around but they were apart from each other, with only a few bigger groups remaining. Linda greeted Sam and told him about the situation. " Us mages will start with our spells again, the stones should come after that." Sam nodded. " If we can reduce them to a hundred, I will take a group of melee fighters and exit the city to kill them off!" Linda returned to the group of mages after their conversation and they began to activate their spells again. The battle continued like it ended the day before and after a few hours, the undead had been reduced to around 100 enemies. Sam took a few veterans and walked through the gate. They had killed all of the undead near the gate, making it easier for them to open it. Sam and his group began to walk around the city and slay the zombies and skeletons attacking the stone wall. Sam finally leveled up to Level 18 and this time, spend five points on speed and five points on accuracy, in hope of it aiding his martial arts. When Sam and his group returned to the east gate a lot of people were already moving the corpses onto big piles before burning them. Sam had ordered them before to use the time they were killing the remaining undead, to burn the corpses after piling them up. Sam didn''t want smelly corpses around his city and on the fields, they were going to use in the future, therefore he decided to stack the bodies and incinerate them as fast as possible, to make the smell disappear and to stop any diseases from breaking out. After managing all of that he returned to the keep and sat on his throne. He wanted to check his reward points, when the door opened and a white clothed man entered. It was the leader of the Brightstar mercenaries. getting information The mercenary leader bowed his head after arriving in front of the throne. " King Sam." " Only Sam is enough. How should I address you and what can I do for you? " " My name is Marlow and as you already know, I am the leader of the Brightstar mercenaries. I came to inform you about the decision our group made. We would like to stay here in your Blackstone city. A few of us are former carpenters or farmers and they would return to do their former jobs while the rest of us would join your army. You should have seen us doing our work during the fight against the undead. What do you say?" Sam had a big smile on his face but not because of the request from Marlow, but because he had seen his actual reward points. 2.455 points! He was happy about his earnings, however first of all he welcomed Marlow and his group. " You are welcome to join us and I would be more than happy to have people like you with us! I will immediately organize houses for you to live in." " No need for that, actually Linda is already in the process of finding places for all of us. She sent me here to ask for permission but at the same time mentioned that you wouldn''t send us off." Marlow scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile. Sam laughed loudly before walking towards the former mercenary leader. He clapped his shoulder with one hand while the other clasped Marlow''s hand. " Now that this is settled, how about we sit down and you tell me about your story?" Marlow nodded and both of them sat down at a small table on the side of the hall. The servants served tea and left the two men alone. Marlow started his narration afterwards. " Me and my group have been wandering for more than two months. We lived in different small villages and were mostly farmers or guards. I was a mage apprentice of the holy church and learnt different types of light magic until my hometown got invaded by monsters. Orcs and smaller goblins entered our town and massacred the majority of the citizens. A group of 20 people gathered and fought their way outside of the chaotic town. I was part of that group. We heard and saw our families and friends getting killed in cruel ways but we were too weak to fight the enemy army. Like this we left our town and started our journey to the west. We accepted more and more people on our way, most of them had lost their homes due to monsters but a few of them told us about humans who were enslaving other humans and bringing them away. In some villages only one or two people got away while the remaining villagers were taken by the human invaders."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Sam stopped Marlow and asked him about the settlements to the east. " We saw a lot of cities, however we entered none because we were afraid of them enslaving us too. We only joined you because you helped us first and all of your citizens and comrades are speaking highly of you! Well, the nearest towns are only a few hours away from here. We saw humans working outside the doors." Sam knew the two cities and told Marlow what he knew about them before signaling him to continue. " Two days from here are three cities in a triangular formation. The reigning factions seem to be at war with each other. We camped on a hill nearby and witnessed multiple skirmishes between the three cities. Unfortunately we were too far away to identify them as humans or something else. Five days from these cities is a massive dungeon in the shape of a massive dome made of steel. We approached it but didn''t want to enter it. Finally, two days away from the dungeon is a fortress build in stone, which seems to be inhabited by dwarves. Apart from these places were only small villages which were already deserted and a few monster settlements we didn''t dare to approach." Sam listened closely and drew a map in his mind while thinking to himself. '' Who would have thought that there are also other races like dwarves. That means there should be races like elves or intelligent beastmen as well right?'' He decided to ask Marlow. " Do you know if there are other intelligent races which could be potential allies in the future?" " I have seen a beautiful elf woman some time ago but my elders told me elves are mostly living deep inside of forests, away from humans, or the mountain and cave loving dwarves. There are not many people who have actually seen an elf. My elders told me about other races like half-humans, who had parts of animals and even animals who were able to speak, but it has been many years since one of them has been seen. I was never fortunate enough to meet a half-human." Sam was still listening closely, especially when Marlow continued. " There are also multiple evil races we know about. Undead, like skeletons and zombies, or orcs are just the simplest type of evil creatures. Ogers and trolls do exist too, as well as the Anvii, a race of brutal and corrupted elves. The stories of the Anvii were used to scare us when we were children but they are actually true. These dark elves use bones and skin of other creatures to build weapons or buildings. In the past, they attacked human settlements and left after pinning the villagers at their houses, still alive! They cut off their tongues and stabbed them multiple times, so that they would slowly and painfully bleed out and die. The Anvii are ruthless to the maximum and hate, torture and kill every living being that is not of their race. There are also demons, who like us humans as slaves or meat. They are cruel and evil but not to the point of the Anvii. This race consists of different kinds of beings. Some look human like, others are covered in scales or have different amounts of limbs. I have never seen Anvii or demons but the stories we were told are numerous and every single one of them speaks about the evil races doing cruel things to humans. There may also be a lot more races we have never heard of. " Marlow stopped and Sam sat there quietly for quite a while. " There seem to be many different factions and races who might want to kill us in the future. I have to think about my plans again." Sam had quietly murmured to himself, however Marlow heard him and laughed before saying " It has always been like this right? A disease, criminal, war, even a simple misstep can cause our deaths! The most important thing for us is to look out for trouble and ensure our people''s lives as best as we can. I saw you fighting for you people, even an idiot would see how much you care about your people, therefore I''m sure you will make the right decisions. I won''t disturb you anymore." Marlow stood up, slowly bowed and took his leave, letting Sam alone with thoughts in turmoil. the journey Sam kept on thinking about the multiple races for the next few days. Even during his quest with Orkan and the twins he kept on pondering what to do and who to approach. The quest was finished after 14 days of traveling. Sam had decided to disclose his identity and directly talk to the leading factions of Whitewall and Tomorrowland, after he was sure about them not being bad people. Whitewall was governed by Queen Silvie, a good looking middle aged woman. She wasn''t a player, but a high leveled mage who organized a strong army after the game had begun. Her faction, the knights of Valor, were a guild consisting of knights and archers. They patrolled the surroundings of Whitewall and fought monsters or evil players. However, there were a few other smaller guilds who lived by completing quests in the adventurer guild. As the name suggests, Whitewall was made of white stones. The walls, towers and buildings were all build with the bright material, making the city look more friendly compared to Blackstone city. After Sam had announced his status, he met with queen Silvie. He informed her about their surroundings and that he would like to have a friendly relationship with her and the knights of Valor. Silvie was a good person who deeply cared about her people. She had no ambitions whatsoever to conquer other cities. On the contrary, she only thought about defending Whitewall and protecting the citizens. She had been happy to hear Sam talking about an alliance, especially after he had told her what sort of people were living near them. Both of them agreed that Sam would take one of Silvie''s knights with him on the way back, so that he could see Blackstone city and witness that Sam wasn''t lying. Sam on the other hand realized that he had been staring at the beautiful queen multiple times. She was a tall woman with bright blonde hair. She wore a white robe which didn''t reveal much skin, however the fabric on her chest region was stretched to the max. In other words, her boobs were massive! Sam had never seen a chest this large before, therefore his eyes had been wandering to this area more than just a few times. Silvie didn''t seem to notice or mind it and never said anything about it and Sam was happy about the twins not being present during his conversation with the queen. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. After Sam and his group had slept in Whitewall for one night they continued their journey towards Tomorrowland. They were impressed after seeing the massive walls surrounding the city of Tomorrowland. The dark grey stone had been piled up to a wall of at least six meter height with numerous towers and gates which surrounded a giant city. Sam and his group had seen countless people entering and leaving the gates, some looked like adventurers but most of the people were farmers. Sam had used the opportunity to talk to a few of the citizens and ask them about Tomorrowland. The farmers praised " the circle" which was the name of the group leading the city. Guards in metal armor and green clothing were stationed at the gates and one of them immediately brought Sam to the keep for an audience with the circle after he had disclosed his identity. The twins were at his sides as well. In the conference room of the keep were ten people, the members of the circle. Six men and four women, all more or less clothed in green sat around a big round table and looked at Sam and the twins after they had entered. They were all between 20 and 40 years old. Sam introduced himself and informed the circle of their surroundings. He talked about the upcoming alliance between Whitewall and Blackstone City and asked them about their opinion, concerning them joining the alliance. Sam also proposed to show them Blackstone city before making their decision. The circle needed time to discuss about the new information, therefore Sam and the twins decided to accept a quest in the local adventurers guild. No one of them wanted to waste time, that''s why they agreed to use their time for training. After two days of killing monsters and practicing martial arts, the circle asked for Sam. " We will send a group to Whitewall for a meeting with queen Silvie and another group with you. If you said the truth and you really own a city not far away from us, we will accept your offer and join your alliance. In times like these, we should work together, especially when we don''t know what the other factions goals are." That''s what the chairman of the circle, Chris, a 34 year old archer said. After Orkan was finished with signing contracts with other merchants, their group left Tomorrowland. They stopped at Whitewall, where a few of the people from Tomorrowland left their group and a middle aged knight of Valor joined them. They reached their destination after half a dozen small skirmishes and with Sam finally reaching Level 19. Sam had chatted with Linda through the guild chat multiple times to make sure everything went well in Blackstone City. She had told him about the villages and constructions, as well as the training of the soldiers. Most of the soldiers, especially the ones in Woodchester and Oakhausen had reached Level 10 and higher which most likely was due to the environment. The areas around the villages weren''t cleared like the surroundings of Blackstone city, far more monsters and bosses were still roaming around, making it easier for the village soldiers to level up but also the life in the villages much harsher. Linda awaited them at the gate with a big smile. She hugged Anna, Nina and also Sam before kissing them on the cheeks. Kain greeted them as well and continued with showing the city to the visitors after Sam had asked him to do so. Sam decided to return to the keep first and check the city stats and his reward points. He also really wanted a good sleep in his king size bed. global event Sam decided to sleep first and spend his reward points on the next day. He woke up at around 9 am and sat down in his throne after a light breakfast. He opened the city menu and checked his reward points. 8.125!! Sam looked at the income history window and discovered most of the points being from the daily city production, villages and the donated quest rewards from the "Nightwatch" members. " That''s awesome!! With this, I have something to work with." Sam called Jack who was still residing in Woodchester. " Hey Jack, it has been a few days since we talked. How is it going for you guys?" " Good to hear you Sam, I would say we are doing more than fine. The walls of Woodchester and Oakhausen are already changed to stone walls. We actually started to construct multiple watchtowers connecting the villages and Blackstone city, which will make traveling between these places a lot safer. All of the soldiers in the villages have also finally reached at least Level 10. Nissa and I are Level 17 while one warrior in Oakhausen was also able to reach Level 15 after killing a boss. There are five soldiers of Level 14 or 13 in each village with a total of 25 soldiers in Woodchester and 20 in Oakhausen. All in all I would say the military situation right now is really good. The fishing in Oakhausen starts to improve too. With more fishers and a few more soldiers over there in Oakhausen, they might be able to catch enough to send them to Blackstone city. More workers for their quarry would be enough to provide both our villages with stones. A few more workers for Woodchester would be great, as well as a few horses in both villages. You will be happy to hear that we found some sort of strange red metal which we plan to mine." Sam was happy hearing the news, especially the part about the red metal. " That''s good news! I will send a group to bring you everything. I want you to help the soldiers I send with leveling up. We don''t have enough monsters around here anymore to help them rise to Level 10. Everything should be in Woodchester in around two hours. We will stop the stone deliveries and use the stones procured in Oakhausen to expand both villages. I will send out a few of our workers and builders to help with the watchtowers. I have to talk about this with Linda but I also plan to upgrade the paths with stones. This will make the traveling between the city and villages faster and more comfortable." Sam and Jack talked a bit longer before Sam ended the call. However he didn''t immediately buy the things, but he left the keep and walked towards the smithy to meet Lance. He needed information about the red metal Jack had found. Sam thought that Lance as a blacksmith was the most likely one to know something about it. " Hello Sam, it has been a while. I thought you would at least visit me to get your two pieces of scale armor, but you never did.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Seems they aren''t really important for you after all, hahahaha! Jokes aside, here are the scale armors." Lance gave Sam two long sleeved shirts made of greenish scales. ( Upper Body Scale Armor [ Lizard ] +15 Defense + 10 Stamina + 10 Speed ) " This..." " Yes! This armor is really good! It is light but extremely endurable and can be used by any class." Sam was speechless. The stats of the scale armor were awesome, no doubt about it. He immediately changed his armor which left him with one more scale shirt. He had already thought about it and knew who he would gift it. He put the armor into his backpack and looked at Lance again. " Thanks a lot! This armor is really special. I have actually another reason I have come today. In one of our villages to the north we found a strange red metal, do you know what it could be and if it is useful for us?" Lance''s eyes went wide and a small yell escaped his lips. "You, you really found scarletite? This metal is extremely rare! It''s much more durable compared to normal steel and extremely difficult to forge. The most important thing about it is that is a great conductor of magical power, especially fire. That means weapons and armor forged of scarletite are the best for being magically enchanted. The effects, especially the ones concerning fire are boosted when used on scarletite equipment! We will need special tools to mine this steel. I will go to work right now! Make sure that a refreshed group of workers is ready when I''m done with the tools. We can''t waste time, otherwise this secret gets leaked and some other force will try to take this treasure!" Lance''s eyes were wide and his face flushed red, Sam could definitely see his excitement, therefore he quickly ended their conversation and returned to the keep. He chatted with Linda on his way back. " It''s like this. I have a bunch of reward points to use and I wanted your opinion on how to spend them." " There are a few new street stalls in the buisness street. Orkans new connections and trades get us new sorts of food. How about we quickly meet up for a snack and talk it through?" Sam was already on the buisness street and he had seen the new stalls, therefore he agreed and met with Linda ten minutes later. They tried some sort of bread, filled with sauce and meat, as well as skewers with vegetables. Some of them were from the old world while others weren''t known to Sam and Linda. All of the dishes were delicious and not to expensive as well. After finishing their meals, both of them were done talking about the city. Sam put down his backpack and took out the remaining piece of scale armor. " This lizard scale armor is extremely durable and boosts your stats quite a lot. I already gave the twins something, furthermore I would feel more assured if I knew you would wear this armor." Sam held the shirt in front of Linda, who happily smiled at him. However, she didn''t take the equipment. " I''m really happy you want to gift me this armor but I think there is a better use for it. How about some sort of contest? Everyone should be able to participate and the grand prize is this piece of armor, the same one that our king wears! This will greatly improve the way your citizens and soldiers see you! It also still gives me the chance to win this armor!" Linda was still smiling, what stopped Sam from trying to change her mind. He sighed before smiling at her. Right at this moment, the world turned dark! '' Global event " Rise of the goblin king" The infamous goblin king has returned and with him hordes of his minions. During the next week, every city will be attacked by multiple waves of monsters. These monsters will all be different kinds of the goblin race. Killing goblins will give you experience, as well as event points, the stronger the goblins the more points you get. The player with the most event points at the end of the tournament will automatically rise to Level 20. There will also be other rewards like skills or equipment, depending on the rank you achieve. The best placed guild will also be rewarded with a special prize! A small advice: You will be able to hide inside your walls and wait for seven days until the end of the event if you are scared to fight, however a certain percentage of the goblins will remain in your area and plunder your surroundings, even after the event ends. That''s why you should at least kill a few of them everyday! Let us begin the event in... 3... 2... 1... Rise of the goblin king part 1 ''Let us begin the event in... 3... 2... 1...'' Sam was back on the buisness street, together with Linda but before he could say anything to her, sounds of horns and drums filled the air. The guards on the east side of the walls were shouting and ringing the alarm bells immediately afterwards, therefore Sam directly made his way to the east gate. His thoughts kept wandering to the rewards which had been stated, especially the Level up! '' This should mean that no one has reached Level 20 until now, maybe more changes will occur after the event?'' Sam and Linda reached the east gate, where Kain and some guards were already waiting. Their faces showed worry. The first thing Sam saw when he looked outside of the city were multiple figures coming out of the forest. Goblins, mostly the size of a ten year old child, with a few bigger exemplars mixed in, approched the stone walls. They held swords, spears daggers or clubs, which they were holding over their heads while advancing with loud shrieks. " Go and get the other soldiers! Linda, you call the twins!" After giving his orders, Sam immediately called Jack. He wanted to make sure that the villages weren''t involved in the event. " I just came back from outside the village. There are no goblins in the surroundings. As stated in the message, only cities get attacked by goblins." " That''s good to hear. Like this, you will be able to leave Woodchester. I want you to organize a team and come over to Blackstone city! Our people need the experience and I want to go for the guild rewards." Jack fully agreed and ensured Sam to reinforce them with a team of 20 soldiers from Woodchester and Oakhausen,including Nissa and Jack himself. Ten minutes later, a majority of the guards arrived atop the east walls. Sam, Linda, Kain and the twins stood side by side and watched the goblin army. The goblins had formed a big line around 100 meters away from the wall where they held their positions. A tall goblin, who almost looked like an orc, inside a crude made full body steel armor walked to the front of the army. The goblin held a big club with multiple sharp edges and spikes while shouting through the small visor of his helmet. Sam and the other soldiers on top of the wall couldn''t understand what the goblin shouted, however they clearly heard the army of goblins cheering in response. They seemed enthusiastic and ready for battle when they started to charge towards the humans. " Archers, get ready! Aim at the ranged attackers, the other ones will be killed by us melee fighters!" The archers began to shoot their arrows. Meanwhile, Kain organized a squad for a charge out of the city.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Most of the goblins weren''t a threat to the trained soldiers of Blackstone City, however their numbers and occasional strong enemies mixed into their army could become dangerous for them. Sam wanted to thin out their numbers with the help of their archers before charging out with his melee fighters. He didn''t want to engage them in a big melee battle but random charges out of the gate with instant retreat back to safety could very well result in heavy casualties on the enemies side. Kain had picked the twenty fighters with the highest attack damage for a swift charge, when Sam arrived behind the gate. " Sam, I think these men should be enough for a successful surprise attack. Maybe, you should wait on top of the gate." Kain tried to convince Sam to stay inside the walls, which was answered by a slight smile. " I''m the strongest fighter of Blackstone City, also don''t forget that I am aiming for the first price in this event! It''s only natural that I''m fighting in the front lines." Unbeknown to Sam, his answer motivated Kain and the surrounding soldiers, who had heard him, a lot. They formed a line behind Sam while a few other strong men got ready at the gate. Their job was to open the gate and quickly close it again after the squad successfully retreated. Sam took a look at the soldiers behind him. All of them held two handed weapons, like warhammers, battleaxes and greatswords. " I will explain the plan to you. We will charge out of the gate and kill as many goblins in the span of 30 seconds before retreating back into the city!" The soldiers nodded in silence, with stern expressions. Linda shouted from on top the gate, signaling them to start the charge. The gate was opened and Sam, who was only holding a steel shield ran out. A few goblins were in the process of carrying ladders towards the stone wall. Fortunately Linda had seen them early on and ordered the archers to kill the carriers. Around 70 goblins had already reached the gate but they stepped back after seeing the gate opening. Sam didn''t mind and charged, shield first into the enemies. He kicked out with his left leg and broke the hip of an ordinary goblin. The wounded creature fell down and started to shriek but died shortly afterwards by another kick to its head. Sam didn''t stop and continued with slamming the edge of his shield into one goblins neck, which beheaded it. Lance had actually sharpened the edge of the round shield, therefore making it easy for Sam to behead his enemies or hack them apart. Sam turned into a killing machine, punching and kicking every goblin he saw. The other soldiers did their part as well and killed as many goblins as possible. After approximately 30 seconds had passed, Sam turned around and yelled at his men to retreat. The humans retreated back inside the city, only leaving the corpses of more than 60 goblins. Most of them had been cleaved apart by the massive weapons of Sam''s warriors. Inside the city, Sam immediately ent back up the gate and stood next to Linda. " How is the situation? " " Our archers are doing a good job and we still have plenty of arrows. Additionally, the mages of the Brightstar battalion are doing heavy damage, we killed at least one fourth of them until now! " " Really good! Slow down the ranged attacks and let them approach the wall again. If they are near enough, our squad will charge out again! " Linda nodded and Sam went down the stairs to regroup with Kain and the rest of the warriors. 30 minutes later, the goblins decided to approach the gate again. The arrows and spells had nearly completely stopped, luring the enemies to close the gap between them an the walls. Sam ordered Linda to wait until the goblins actually placed their ladders against the walls, before giving him the signal. That resulted in a lot of goblins near the walls, when Sam and his squad charged outside again. Sam told them to use all their available skills after he saw a lot of goblin variants between the remaining enemies. As expected, most of the goblins they had killed until now had been the weaker ones! Sam viciously charged inside the enemy lines, blocking a few weapons with his shield, before retaliating with a roundhouse kick. He beheaded two monsters before punching another head into a pulp. Even though the warriors of Blackstone City were all killing ruthlessly with their big two handed weapons, they all were astonished and even a bit fearful after witnessing Sam massacring the enemies. Sam and his group needed one minute to kill all of the goblins near the wall and destroy their ladders. They returned afterwards, making it safe for the ranged attackers to bring death to the enemies again. A horn was blown and the remaining goblins swiftly retreated back inside the forest. Not more than a hundred were left, including the armored leader. Jack and his team entered Blackstone City ten minutes later through the north gate. Nissa began to familiarize the soldiers with the city, while Jack made his way towards the keep to meet Sam who had returned by then.